


A Pocket Full of Posies

by Riddle_of_the_sphinx



Category: Naruto
Genre: Hanahaki Disease, Hatake Kakashi Needs a Hug, Idiots in Love, Kage Bunshin | Shadow Clones, Kakashi knows how he feels but he is too afraid to admit it, Language of Flowers, M/M, Minato probably should have told someone about that before he kicked the bucket, Naruto Shippuden: Inheritors of the Will of Fire, Naruto figures out his feelings pretty quick, Naruto has a pretty big fear of rejection, Naruto makes his friends worry, Naruto using shadow clones as sounding boards, Protective Hatake Kakashi, Uzumaki Naruto Needs a Hug, Worried Kakashi, so it turns out the Namikaze family is cursed, talking things out with his clones really helps Naruto figure things out, that movie gets referenced a few times
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-31
Updated: 2020-03-16
Packaged: 2020-03-30 22:15:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 122,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19036672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Riddle_of_the_sphinx/pseuds/Riddle_of_the_sphinx
Summary: After rescuing Kakashi from Hiruko a few joking comments from his friends about him and Kakashi make Naruto realize that he is in love with Kakashi, and that realization causes an ancient family curse to activate. Naruto starts coughing up flowers, and the clock starts ticking. Will Naruto’s love be accepted, or is he doomed to die with flowers in his lungs?





	1. Red Carnation

**Author's Note:**

> I'll probably have this posted up on my Fanfiction account under the name Jet Set Radio Yoyo, so you will see this story there as well. 
> 
> On another note this story takes place pretty much a few days after the events of Naruto Shippuden: Inheritors of the Will of Fire movie.

**Falling in love was never in my plan. Until one day I just realized that I love this person too much. —Unknown**

\-------------------------------------------------------

It had been about four days since the Hiruko incident, and things in Konoha were finally starting to calm down. Hiruko was dead, Kakashi was safely back home where he belonged, and everything had more or less calmed down. Tsunade had personally given Team Kakashi a check over the second they had returned from saving Kakashi, and thankfully she was able to give everyone a clean bill of health. She also didn't yell at the team for pretty much disobeying orders to rush off and save Kakashi so that was a major plus. Truthfully after how well the rescue mission went it was sort of hard to yell at them for rushing off on their own. Kakashi had been saved, Konoha was safe, and a dangerous missing-nin had been dealt with. Due to just how well the rescue mission went Team Kakashi was only given a light slap on the wrist for disobeying orders. Two weeks of doing nothing but D-Rank missions. Naruto had grumbled about it, but when Tsunade had cheerfully informed him that spending two weeks in a cell was also an option the boy had quickly shut his trap and accepted the rather light punishment without any more whining. For the most part everyone was putting the incident behind them and moving on. 

Everyone but Naruto that is.

Well, to be more specific the thing that Naruto wasn’t able to move on from was all of the comments everyone made about him and Kakashi after Hiruko had been defeated and the dust had settled. Naruto had handled the bells to Kakashi, and Kakashi had smiled at him and just said one simple little sentence. 

_You’re just like him._

Naruto had just tilted his head slightly to the side in confusion upon hearing that. Who was Kakashi talking about? How was Naruto like this mystery man? Naruto never really got the chance to ask. He had opened his mouth to ask the question only to snap it shut when he heard his friends start saying some rather strange things in response to what Kakashi said.

_The book says that over time, when two parties both feel their hearts pounding, it can lead to love…_

_Guy-sensei said this is also a part of the springtime of youth!_

_I always expected that something like that was going on._

_I’m shocked I always knew the two of you were close, but still…_

When Naruto heard all of these things his mind just shut down. His brain could barely process what his friends were suggesting. He blushed as red as a tomato and did the only thing his brain could think of. He turned around and started running back to Konoha like his life depended on it. Kakashi had chased after him yelling that what was going on wasn’t anything like that, and his friends were just joking.

For some reason Kakashi’s denial just made Naruto feel worse.

Eventually Kakashi and their friends caught up with Naruto, and they laughed and explained that they had just been mostly joking. Well, most of them had been joking. Sai had actually been serious although due to Sai’s lack of knowledge regarding human interaction it made it hard to actually take Sai’s comment too seriously. Naruto had eventually laughed about the moment and brushed it aside upon getting home, but even though he tried to forget about the rather embarrassing moment it never left his mind.

How could his friends say those things? How could they look and sound so serious when they said it?

Who did Naruto remind Kakashi of?

Why did Kakashi insisting that what his friends said were all just innocent jokes that meant nothing make Naruto feel so bad? 

Those questions clawed nonstop at the back of Naruto’s mind, and no matter how much Naruto tried to ignore it the questions never went away. It was only on the fourth day did Naruto finally crack and actually decide to try and actually answer these questions. It was not like he had much to do on that day anyway. He had woken up at the crack of dawn and after finding out that he wasn’t able to just go back to sleep he made his way to training field that Team Kakashi had unofficially claimed as their own. They were supposed to meet there today to continue their D-Rank mission punishment. However, with how early Naruto was the boy knew that it would probably be another hour before Sai and Sakura got there. Yamato was exempt from the punishment due to being on a separate mission somewhere in Tea Country when the Hiruko incident happened, and he wasn’t expected back home until either later this afternoon or sometime tomorrow. As for Kakashi it was hard to know when his chronically late sensei would finally show up. The man marched to the beat of his own drummer and trying to predict when he would finally show up was difficult to say the least. Usually he was late by an hour or an hour and a half, but sometimes he made them wait for two hours. There was really no telling when it came to Kakashi.

At any rate Naruto had at least an hour before anyone would show up, so he might as well use that time to really think of that moment that his mind refused to forget. He walked over to the edge of the training field and smiled just a tiny bit upon seeing the flowers that were blooming around the edge of the training field. Spring was in full swing and flowers bloomed in abundance. Naruto always loved this session. In spring Konoha was covered in flowers. Heather, magnolias, lilacs, and many other types of flowers bloomed in abundance in the fields and forests that surrounded the village during this session. Even the blossoms on the trees were bright and vibrant. During the spring Konoha was at its most colorful. Naruto loved it. Konoha may have been known for its forests, but it was infamous for its flowers. Even Team Kakashi’s training field was surrounded by blooming flowers. Carnations of all sorts of colors bloomed with abundance around the training area. As Naruto flopped down on a patch of grass on the edge of the field he had to be careful not to accidentally flatten one of the bundles of red carnation flowers that grew there. Naruto admired the flowers for only a few seconds before he shook his head and made the hand signs that he knew by heart.

“Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!” Within a matter of seconds, a shadow clone of Naruto appeared in front him.

The clone was already sitting on the ground with his hands lying on his lap, and a crooked smile on his face.

“So we are finally talking about this?” The clone asked.

“Not like there is anything else to do while we wait.”

“We could train,” The clone said as he motioned toward the training field.

“You think I can train with these questions bugging me?” Naruto asked in annoyance. 

The clone only let out a small snort of amusement upon hearing that. The clone didn’t really answer verbally. He didn’t have to. They both knew that the answer to that question was no. Naruto’s questions were already screaming for attention in his head. There was no way Naruto could focus on training when his own mind refused to move away from the Hiruko incident. The only way he could move on from it was by talking about it with someone, and right now that someone was his clone. He always had a better time organizing his thoughts when he had a soundboard to bounce his thoughts off of, and his clones were pretty great for that role. It also helped that it was easier to talk to his clones about embarrassing stuff then it was to talk to someone else. 

“Alright, so why do you think everyone made it sound like you and Kakashi were falling in love?” The clone asked rather bluntly.

Naruto’s cheeks immediately turned red upon hearing that question. Already he could hear his friends' past comments echoing in his head.

“I don’t know!” Naruto cried out. “They make it seem weird to want to rescue someone you care about! I wasn’t any different when I tried to bring Sasuke back!”

The mention of Naruto’s runaway teammate made his heart ache a little. It always hurt to remember how Sasuke left. Absentmindedly Naruto rubbed the spot where Sasuke had stabbed him with a Chidori. That attack had left a scar that even the fox hadn’t been able to completely heal. It was like a permanent reminder of his failure to bring his friend back home. Naruto could just feel the dark cloud forming over his head as he thought of Sasuke. He was quick to push those thoughts away. Sasuke wasn’t dead, and Naruto wasn’t giving up on the man just yet. He would drag Sasuke back to Konoha eventually regardless of if the Uchiha liked it or not. He had promised that he would bring the Uchiha back home after all. Naruto quickly shook his head to rid himself of his thoughts, and tried to focus on his clone.

The clone had a thoughtful look on his face. His arms were crossed as he was staring at Naruto. Naruto could almost hear the gears turning in his clone’s head. The clone tilted his head slightly in thought as he stared at Naruto. Naruto couldn’t help but twitch a little under his clone’s scrutiny. Eventually a light bulb must have gone off somewhere in the clone’s head because the clone’s eyes suddenly widened a bit as he sat up just a bit straighter. Naruto waited for the clone to suddenly shout out something, but strangely the clone stayed silent. It just stared at Naruto silently for a few minutes as if unsure of if he should say what was on his mind. The clone must have decided that whatever it had thought of was worth talking about because after a few more seconds of silence had passed by the clone started to speak.

“Well,” The clone said slowly. “Maybe there was something different about how you went about rescuing the two. Maybe you acted differently? Or everyone thought your feelings during the two events were different? Or something?”

“Or something?” Naruto echoed as a teasing smile started to appear on his face.

The clone only playfully shoved Naruto in response. Naruto allowed himself to flop over on his back. He could feel the petals of the carnation flowers that grew around him brush up against his cheeks, and when he stretched his hands out he could feel the silky petals of the flowers against his fingers. He was content to just lie there staring up at the clear blue sky while occasionally letting his fingers brush up against the petals of the flowers blooming around him.

“When you went off to get Sasuke how did you feel?” Naruto heard his clone ask.

“Determined to bring him back,” Naruto answered without even thinking. “I felt determined to bring Kakashi-sensei back too.”

“You felt more than just determined to bring Sasuke back, boss.”

Naruto frowned slightly at the comment, but the clone had a point. He had felt more than just determination on that day.

“I felt angry,” Naruto confessed. “I felt so mad that he left us all like that. That he abandoned Sakura. That he abandoned Kakashi-sensei. That he abandoned me. I felt so angry that he would just throw away our team and village to go to that snake bastard.”

Hell, even now when Naruto thought about it he still felt angry about it. After the hell Orochimaru had put their village through Sasuke still went to the bastard without much hesitation. Sasuke was perfectly fine with basically becoming a missing-nin and putting his life in the snake bastard’s hands just so that he could train with the man. What sort of training could Sasuke get from that guy that he couldn’t get from the people in the village?

Naruto probably would have grumbled about it, but all his complaints died before they could make it out of his mouth when he heard his clone say “You felt sad too.”

He felt a dull ache in his heart upon hearing that. He always felt that ache in his heart when he thought of how Sasuke tried his hardest to destroy the bond between them. Naruto moved his head so that he could look at his clone only to see a sad look on the clone’s face. The clone was staring down at his lap. His clone seemed to be going down a rather unpleasant trip down memory lane at that moment, and Naruto wasn’t really looking forward to joining his clone down that rather dark path.

“We didn’t stay surprised for very long after hearing the news,” Naruto muttered as he returned his gaze back to the sky above.

“We didn’t,” The clone confirmed. “Sasuke never hid the fact that he wanted to kill his brother.”

Naruto had been surprised at first upon hearing the news about Sasuke leaving, but that moment had been brief. His surprise was quickly replaced by a feeling of resignation. If anything he was surprised that it was happening so soon after the attack on their village, but he wasn’t surprised by the fact that Sasuke would go anywhere if it would give him the power to beat his brother. Maybe if this had happened right before the Chūnin Exams Naruto wouldn’t have believed that Sasuke would leave. However, after getting the curse mark combined with the loss to his brother Naruto couldn’t even pretend to be surprised by the news for longer than a few seconds at most. The writing was on the wall the second Sasuke fought him on the hospital rooftop. Naruto may have not been the sharpest kunai in the weapon pouch, but he was smart enough to see which way the wind was blowing. He just wasn’t smart enough to be able to do anything about it. 

Almost as if the clone was reading his thoughts Naruto heard his clone say “We’ll get him back.”

“We will,” Naruto confirmed.

They would bring Sasuke back. They had promised after all. 

Letting his thoughts about the promise drop for a moment Naruto asked “So was there a point for taking a trip down misery lane, or do you clones just like spending your mornings thinking about how I got stabbed with a Chidori by an ex-teammate?” 

The halfhearted kick to the side that he got in response was completely expected. 

“I have a point to all of this. Just let me work my way up to it.” His clone grumbled.

“Alright, so when Sasuke left you felt anger that he left. You felt sad that you couldn’t stop him, but ultimately you didn’t feel too surprised that he did leave to get more power. You also feel-“

Naruto immediately cut into his clone’s speech by saying “Still feel.”

The clone rolled his eyes but continued talking by saying “Alright, you still feel determined to bring him home.” 

The clone stared down at Naruto as he asked “When you first heard that Kakashi-sensei had apparently went missing-nin what did you think?”

“There is no way in hell that is true,” Naruto answered without even thinking. “Kakashi would never abandon me, Sai, Sakura, and Captain Yamato like that.”

Naruto hadn’t said it, but the fact that Kakashi wouldn’t betray the village wasn’t something that needed to be said. To be completely honest the village had been the farthest thing from his mind at the time. The only thing he could think of was the fact that Kakashi would never betray his team. Distantly in the back of his head he could hear Kakashi’s voice whispering his very familiar mantra.

_Those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum._

“There was no doubt in your mind,” The clone said. “So answer me this. When you learned the truth of what Kakashi-sensei was doing how did you feel?” 

Naruto almost felt like curling up in a ball when he thought of his mindset back then. It hadn’t been a pleasant mindset to be stuck in.

“I was terrified,” Naruto confessed.

“Why?” 

Naruto just shot the clone a look that screamed ‘you know why’. The clone rolled his eyes upon seeing the look.

“Say the reasons why out loud. You were the one who wanted to figure this all out, and talking things out always helped you figure stuff out.”

“I didn’t want to lose him. Kakashi is one of my precious people. One of my first precious people.” Naruto clamped his eyes shut. “When I think of Kakashi-sensei being gone I just…”

Naruto couldn’t even finish his sentence. He didn’t know how. When he had heard Kakashi was going off to sacrifice him himself Naruto had panicked. The thought of Kakashi not being there anymore was almost unimaginable. Naruto couldn’t imagine a world where Kakashi wasn’t dropping by his apartment every weekend to drop off a load of vegetables, and make sure that he was actually eating some of it. He couldn’t imagine being in world where he would no longer be making bets with Sakura over how long Kakashi would be making them wait this time. He couldn’t imagine living in a world where he wasn’t able to drag Kakashi and the rest of the team off to Ichiraku Ramen every Friday. He didn’t even want to imagine what it would be like if Kakashi wasn’t there to train with him anymore. Kakashi had always just been there, and the thought of him not being there made Naruto feel sick. The fact that his own village was willing to sacrifice Kakashi to beat their enemy made him feel even sicker.

“When you were locked up in that jail cell you were terrified,” Naruto’s clone said softly. “You kept screaming for someone to let you out so you could save him.”

Naruto could remember that. He could remember yelling for someone to let him out. To let him go free so that he could find Kakashi. He knew that with every second he was stuck in that cell Kakashi was getting farther and farther away from him, and getting closer and closer to his demise. Some tiny frantic voice in the back of his head was crying out a never ending mantra the whole time Kakashi was gone.

_You can’t let him die. You can’t lose him. You can’t let him die._

The bells that Kakashi had given him earlier had been with him the whole time he was locked up. Naruto had clung onto them like they were a lifeline. Some dark part of his mind wondered if Kakashi had given him the bells as a sort of farewell present. Naruto hadn’t been able to bring himself to ask Kakashi if that was the case. He wasn’t sure what he would do if Kakashi confirmed that it had indeed been the case. Naruto cringed a little at that dark thought process. He would probably never be able to look at the bells without having those dark thoughts forever tainting them.

“Note to self. Buy Sakura a whole bunch of anmitsu as thanks for getting me out of the jail cell.” Naruto muttered to himself. 

His clone let out a soft laugh upon hearing that. When the clone finally stopped laughing he smiled a small bitter smile as he looked at Naruto.

“You can’t imagine a world without Kakashi-sensei in it. Just trying to imagine it hurts. It hurts a lot.” 

Naruto didn’t even try to deny it. There was no point. One of the benefits of talking to a shadow clone was that they already knew what you were feeling. It made it hard to lie to yourself when a copy of you refused to let you deny your feelings.

“And your point is?”

“I’m getting to it,” The clone said as it frowned at Naruto. “When you were free and chasing after Kakashi-sensei what did you feel?”

“Determined,” Naruto said as he rolled his eyes in slight annoyance. “Not that different from when I tried to bring Sasuke home.”

“Boss, you felt a lot more then determined. If anything you were downright frantic when it came to getting Kakashi-sensei. You were willing to fight your friends into an all-out brawl for standing in your way. Gaara asked you to weigh Kakashi-sensei’s life against the lives of the village and you couldn’t do it. You refused to give up on him even when you heard that question.” His clone said.

Naruto said nothing to this, but really didn’t have much of a chance to say anything. His clone was on a roll now and he didn’t seem to be ready to stop any time soon. 

“You know why Kakashi did what he did. At the time they thought sacrificing him was the only real way to stop Hiruko. Yet, even knowing that you still tried to save him. You didn’t know if it was even possible to stop Hiruko if you saved Kakashi, and yet you still went off to save him anyway.”

“I don’t want to live somewhere where we just slap our friends on the chopping block because it is the easy solution or just because everyone assumes it is the only solution,” Naruto snapped. “I would do everything in my power to prevent such a thing!” 

Naruto’s clone shot up to his feet upon hearing that. The clone stared down at Naruto with a scowl on his face, and with fire burning in his blue eyes. 

“That is one of the reasons why you went after Kakashi, but that isn’t the only reason and you know it!” 

Naruto could feel a scowl making its way onto his face, and he was already to jump up to his feet and start yelling at his clone. However, Naruto’s desire to get into an all-out brawl with his clone died the second he heard his clone’s next question.

“What did you feel when you thought Kakashi died?”

Naruto froze. He didn’t like thinking of that moment. Actually, he downright hated thinking of that moment. It chilled him to the bone to think of the moment when Kakashi was just lying there still and silent. His eyes were closed, and no matter how much Naruto screamed at him or shook him the man didn’t wake up. Sasuke trying to destroy the bond he had with Naruto made the blond boy’s heart ache every time he thought of that moment. However, it felt like someone was trying to rip a piece of his heart right out of his chest whenever he thought back to that dark moment when it seemed like Kakashi had died. Kakashi was safe and alive now, but even with that knowledge thinking of that one moment still made it feel like someone was trying to rip his heart to pieces.

“Would you like me to answer that question for you, boss?”

Naruto stared up at his clone only to see that the fire had died out of the clone’s eyes. There was a look of sadness on the clone’s face. A look that told Naruto that the clone was thinking of that moment too. 

“It was devastating. It felt like your whole entire world was crashing down on you. You completely shut down, boss.” The clone paused for a moment to take in a deep breath before he continued. “That Hiruko guy was still alive, but at that moment you didn’t care. All you could focus on was the fact that Kakashi was gone. You didn’t get angry. You didn’t go berserk. You just gave into despair. You didn’t do that when you thought Sasuke died on the Wave mission. You didn’t shut down nearly as bad when Gaara died, and that is saying a lot considering how badly you reacted to that.”

The clone had a point. Usually when a friend was hurt or killed Naruto would get mad and try to pound his opponent into dust. On the rare occasion the fox would take over and Naruto would go berserk. However, when Naruto thought Kakashi died none of that happened. He didn’t immediately fling himself into battle to bring Hiruko down. He didn’t immediately go into some terrifying frenzy that only the fox could cause. He couldn’t do any of those things even if he wanted to. All he could feel was sorrow as he cried out for his teacher to just open his eyes. His thoughts at that moment had been a jumbled mess that only grew worse and worse with every second that passed.

_You failed. You could not save him. Kakashi is dead. Kakashi is **dead**. Kakashiisdead Youwillneverhearhisvoiceagain Youwillnevertrainwithhimagain Heisgoneandyoucoudn’tsavehim-_

His shadow clones had slowly dispersed as his inner voice screamed that he failed. With each clone that disappeared he was assaulted with memories of his own despair viewed from all sorts of angles. With each memory that his clones gave him he was greeted again and again with the sight of Kakashi’s motionless body. Hiruko had still been alive, but Naruto couldn’t bring himself to care. At that moment the only thing Naruto could think of doing was giving Kakashi the repaired bells. 

Naruto hadn’t been able to save Kakashi, but at the very least he could give the man the bells back.

Right when Naruto was about to pull the bells out Kakashi opened his eyes. Upon seeing Kakashi alive all of Naruto’s sadness drained away. He was in the middle of a freaking battlefield, but at that moment all he felt like doing was hugging his sensei and screaming his joy out so loudly that every single hidden village could hear him. Hell, at that moment the only thing he did do was yank the bells out and hand them to his teacher while babbling about the bells and how he made sure to fix them for Kakashi. During that brief moment in time when he thought Kakashi was dead Naruto had never felt so low, and he had never felt such joy when he saw that his precious person was still alive.

“When Gaara was kidnapped and killed you were a wreck,” The clone said. “You never hid how you felt then, and you sure didn’t hide how you felt when you went running off to save Kakashi-sensei. If anything you were a bit more frantic to rescue Kakashi-sensei then you were to rescue Gaara, and that is saying something.”

The clone had a point. Naruto had been a man on a mission when it came to saving Gaara. How could he not be? Sasuke was like a brother to Naruto and they had a special bond, but Gaara was just as important to Naruto although for different reasons. Gaara was the only one out of Naruto’s friends who knew what it was like to be a jinchūriki. He understood how much of a burden being a jinchūriki was. Although, even with that bond Naruto wasn’t going to let Gaara stop him from saving Kakashi. No one would stop Naruto from saving Kakashi. Not Tsunade, not Shikamaru, and certainly not Gaara. He would fight them all to save Kakashi. 

“You were willing to break out of jail to rescue sensei. You were willing to fight every single one of your friends to rescue him. You were willing to get into major trouble with Baa-chan just to save him. You acted like the world itself would end if you didn’t save him.” The clone tilted his head slightly to the side as he smirked slightly at Naruto. “With all that in mind can you really blame your friends for thinking that maybe there is a special connection between you two?”

“I guess not,” Naruto mumbled. “But they took it a bit beyond just having a connection. They acted like we were in love with each other.”

The clone was silent upon hearing that comment. It just stared at Naruto as the smirk the clone had been wearing quickly faded away. Naruto just stared at the clone unsure of what was going through the clone’s head. The clone opened his mouth as if to say something only to quickly snap it shut. He stared down at Naruto for at least a good three minutes before he finally sighed and said what was on his mind.

“That’s because you are in love with Kakashi-sensei.”

It only took a total of three seconds for the clone’s words to really register for Naruto.

“What?!”

Naruto wanted to say more, but the words refused to leave his mouth. Any attempt to say that that clone was crazy for even suggest such a thing failed. The clone just frowned at the boy as a sat there struggling to voice the denials that refused to leave his lips. 

“Boss, just think about it for a few seconds. You aren’t stupid. If you actually bothered to look at the signs it is clear as day that you love him.” The clone frowned a little as it looked at him. “Here let me get you started. If you didn’t love Kakashi then why did Kakashi’s denials that you and him were not in love hurt so much?”

That single question left Naruto speechless. He had no answer to that. The clone had a point. He should have been happy that Kakashi was quick to tell their friends that they were looking way too deep into things. Yet, instead he had just felt sad upon hearing that. 

_‘The only reason you would feel like that is if you loved Kakashi,’_ A little voice in the back of his head murmured.

Naruto let out a loud groan as he moved over to lie on his side. Much as he would like to deny it his clone was right. There was no reason that those denials would hurt so much unless he was in love with the gray haired man.

“Give me a second to think!” He shouted to his clone.

His clone didn’t reply, but the smug look that his clone was wearing was the only answer needed. Naruto tried to ignore the look as he thought about just what he felt for Kakashi.

 _‘Alright, now think. What signs are there that point to you loving Kakashi-sensei of all people? How does this possible crush compare to the crush that you used to have on Sakura?’_

The answer to that question actually came to him quicker than he expected. His old crush on Sakura had faded away a long time ago and these days the pink haired girl was nothing more than a dear friend, but he still remembered how he felt back when he was twelve-year-old kid who thought he was in love with her. For now, that small crush from the past was the only thing Naruto could compare this possible love to. 

_‘When Sakura smiled at me or complimented me I felt happy,’_ Naruto thought. 

Yet, when Kakashi would complement him he was on top of the world. Kakashi only gave compliment when they were earned, so to some extent they felt really special when Naruto would get one. He felt happy when Sakura would give him the rare compliment, but that was easily overshadowed by the pure joy he felt when he received one of Kakashi’s complements. As for the smiles Sakura’s smile was nice, but there was something about Kakashi’s smile that really got to him. Sure, he couldn’t really see it due to the mask that his sensei always wore but that didn’t take away from the beauty of it. Kakashi’s fake polite smiles were rather obvious and almost a little painful to see. When he gave those fake smiles he didn’t really seem alive. His onyx colored eyes would be dull and absent of any emotion, and his teacher’s slouching stance grew so bad that he almost looked like a scarecrow that was about to collapse. 

However, when Kakashi smiled an honest smile Kakashi's charcoal black eye would light up in a way that Naruto would rarely see and the fabric around his mouth would crinkle in a way that made it obvious that there was a large smile under the mask. He would stand up straighter, and he looked more alive. It was even better when that happy smile was accompanied by a laugh. Kakashi’s laugh was a soft deep rumble that made Naruto just want to smile when he heard it. It was smooth and gentle, and Naruto could listen to it all day. When Kakashi smiled an honest smile it made Naruto happy. As cheesy as it sounded seeing that smile warmed his heart. Sakura’s smile had never made him feel that way.

_‘That sounds like you are crushing on him,’_ A little inner voice whispered in the back of his head. _‘That so sounds like you have a crush on him.’_

Naruto just clamps his eyes shut and tries to shove that thought into a dark corner of his mind. It’s rather hard to do. The signs were already there, and despite what some people believed Naruto wasn’t a complete idiot. A little slow on the uptake maybe, but not a major idiot. It just wanted to be sure. He really wanted to know with all of his heart that these feelings were really love, and not just extreme fondness.

_‘Alright, so you like his smile and laugh like a whole hell of a lot. What else?’_

He loved spending time with the man. He loved sparing against him. Kakashi could give Naruto a real run for his money when he wanted to. He also loved training with the man. He just loved spending time with Kakashi in general. It was the reason why Friday was his favorite day of the week. Friday was Team Kakashi’s training day. They weren’t always able to train on Friday due to missions running too long, or sometimes responsibilities in the village would keep them busy. Still, everyone on the team tried to keep their schedule on Friday clear. On Friday they would spar, they would train, and they would experiment. Suggestions for new team combinations were thrown out and promptly tested. Spares were held, and when the fights were over everyone would review it and make suggestions on what could be improved. New jutsu attacks were practiced and improved. Weapons were sharpened, and low supplies were promptly replaced

Naruto loved it.

When he was young he had always heard of how some ninja teams became so close-knit they practically became a family. Naruto had craved bonds like that with every fiber of his being. He always dreamed of having such strong bonds all his life, and while it took years to get such bonds he did get them. These Friday training sessions were Naruto’s weekly reminder that he had strong bonds that he had always longed for. He had Kakashi, Sakura, Sai, and Yamato his most precious people. It stung a little that Sasuke wasn’t with them, but that pain was easily ignored in favor of his joy. His favorite part of Friday though was when the team would end the day by getting dinner. Usually they got ramen although sometimes his team would drag him to some other restaurant just for a change of pace. 

While not getting ramen was a bit of a bummer Naruto couldn’t bring himself to care too much. He was just happy to be with his team. They would talk about everything as they ate. The topics they talked about could go from just chattering about what their friends were doing to talking about what sort of training they should do next week. Eventually once the food was finished the team would slowly separate. Sakura would usually be the first to leave. She usually had her duties at the hospital and to Tsunade that she had to attend to early in the morning so she usually couldn’t stay out too late. Yamato would usually be the next to leave, and Sai would leave soon after. That would usually leave Kakashi and Naruto. The two men usually ended up walking part of the way home together. Kakashi’s apartment wasn’t too horribly far away from where Naruto lived, so it wasn’t like it was any trouble for the gray haired man to walk with Naruto.

With that said Naruto was always privately grateful that Kakashi always walked home with him. Kakashi could have easily just left and ran over the rooftops to get back to his apartment in a matter of seconds. Naruto didn’t really need to have someone walk him home. Yet, even though he didn’t have to Kakashi always walked home with Naruto. Naruto was always grateful for that. He loved those late night walks with Kakashi. However, he loved it even more when they ate out at Ichiraku and for once it wasn't just because he got ramen from there. When they were the last ones at Ichiraku Kakashi would do something special. Naruto could still remember the night when Kakashi started the little tradition between them clear as day. He had been whining that he wanted one last bowl of ramen before they left. He hadn’t been expecting much from Kakashi when he started his whining. At most he expected Kakashi to tease him by saying that one bowl of ramen would never be enough for him, or something like that.

Strangely enough that wasn’t what Kakashi did. Instead the man had just asked “What sort of ramen do you want?”

Naruto had frowned a bit in thought before he said “I want miso ramen.”

Kakashi had let out a small hum in answer before he turned his attention to Teuchi and said “One bowl of miso ramen for Naruto. I'm paying for it.”

“Sensei….” Naruto had started to say, only to have Kakashi wave the off whatever it was that the blue eyed boy was going to say. 

“Maa, I’m only buying you one bowl so don’t get too excited.”

As the bowl of miso ramen was placed down in front of Naruto Kakashi smiled at him. It was a type of smile Naruto had never seen before. It was different from his mischievous smiles, or his amused ones. This smile was much kinder. Kakashi was relaxed in a way Naruto rarely ever saw. His gaze was gentle as he looked at Naruto. It was a soft look that Naruto had never seen Kakashi give anyone before.

“I’m only doing this once so don’t get used to it,” The jōnin said.

Naruto hadn’t questioned it then. He just thanked the man and ate the ramen without complaint.

Much to Naruto’s surprise it ended up being more than a onetime thing.  


Every time they went to Ichiraku the second everyone else had left Kakashi would buy him a bowl of ramen. Strange as it was Naruto never questioned free ramen. He would just accept the gift of free ramen all while making sure Kakashi knew that he was very grateful for the free food.

As he ate Kakashi would tell him small silly tales. He would talk about the most ridicules challenges that Guy had given him, or talk about a few lighthearted silly incidents that happened during his past missions. Sometimes if Naruto was really lucky Kakashi would share a few funny stories from his time as a genin. He never said the name of his genin teammates which was a bit disappointing although Naruto was able to live with it. He couldn’t even bring himself to care too much. Naruto was just grateful that Kakashi was willing to tell him his stories. When Kakashi told these stories he was showing Naruto these little tiny pieces of his life. He was letting Naruto hear stories about him that few people ever got the privilege to hear. For some reason Kakashi had given Naruto the honor of hearing those tales of his old team. Naruto was never completely sure why Kakashi would share those small stories about his old team. When he talked about them Kakashi always made the old memories sound rather bittersweet. Naruto never commented on that fact. He would always just eat his ramen and listen to the man speak. 

Once he was done eating Kakashi would keep the stories going during the walk home. Naruto would hang onto the man’s every word. He almost didn’t dare to interrupt the tales that Kakashi told. Every once in a while Naruto would ask a question, but for the most part the boy stayed silent and just allowed the gray haired man’s soothing voice to wash over him. Every story that Kakashi told was committed to memory. Naruto wanted to remember every single story that Kakashi told him. He loved the ramen that Kakashi bought him, but he loved the stories that Kakashi told more and that was saying something considering how much Naruto loved ramen. He cherished those simple moments deeply. Few things could compare to the simple joy that he felt at being able to walk with Kakashi and listen to his tales.

_‘That is probably when you fell in love with him. The day he gave you ramen and started sharing stories that almost no one else gets to hear.’_

When that thought drifted into the blonde’s head he didn’t even try to deny it. There was no lie in that thought. After everything that had happened during the Hiruko incident combined with his most recent thoughts Naruto was finally able to see the truth.

“I’m in love with Kakashi.”

“So he can figure it out,” Naruto heard his clone joke, but Naruto really didn’t pay much attention to that.

Upon saying his feelings out loud it felt like a dam broke inside him and his feelings for Kakashi washed over him like a tidal wave. He felt downright giddy at that moment. He almost felt like wiggling around in joy. Upon realizing his feelings, it felt like a weight had been lifted. He felt like shouting his love for Kakashi from the rooftops. He wanted all of Konoha to know who he was in love with.

Naruto had never felt this happy when he had that small crush on Sakura.

Of course the joy was short lived. The thought of shouting his love from the rooftops was a nice one, but it was a thought that immediately made him realize something. If he wanted this love to go anywhere he had to confess to Kakashi. The problem with that? Kakashi could reject him. The thought of Kakashi rejecting him made his whole body freeze up. It was like all of his previous joy was sucked right out of him. His heart felt like it would freeze with fear at the very thought of rejection.

As messed up as it was this probably showed that he actually was in love with Kakashi.

When he had a crush of Sakura the idea of being rejected was depressing, but it didn’t fill him with dread. When Sakura had rejected his suggestions of going out on a date together Naruto had always been able to shrug it off. If Kakashi rejected him there would be no shrugging it off. He knew his heart would break if he were rejected by Kakashi.

A small cough escaped from Naruto’s mouth at that thought, but that little cough was suddenly followed by a full blown coughing fit. Naruto wasn’t even sure where it came from. It was like the very thought of being rejected made his body freak out at the thought. Naruto clamped his hands over his mouth as his body shook with each cough. 

“Boss?!” Naruto heard his clone call out with worry. 

Naruto wasn’t able to answer the call. He was too busy focusing on the fact that it felt like his body was trying to force something out of his body through coughing. Naruto could feel his clone start rubbing his back in what the clone probably hoped was a soothing motion. When Naruto’s coughing fit finally died down he pulled his hands away only to frown. There in his hands were flower petals. Dark red carnation petals to be exact. 

_‘Where did they come from?_ ’ Naruto thought as he stared at the red petals that were sitting innocently in his hands.

Well, he was sitting in the grass surrounded by carnation flowers. Some of the flowers were a vivid dark red color. In fact there were a few red flowers growing right next to him. Chances are a few red petals that had fallen off of the flowers and a few must have gotten stuck to his hands. Due to his roller coaster of emotions going on he must not have noticed. That made the most sense, but Naruto wasn’t satisfied with that answer. He was sure that his hands had been clean before he clamped them over his mouth. Strangely, Naruto could feel this odd sense of uneasiness creeping up on him. He didn’t really know why. They were just flower petals. The training field was almost covered in petals due to the flowers that surrounded it. Why did the red petals bother him so much?

“Boss?”

The clone was looking worried. If anything he looked just as uneasy as Naruto was currently feeling. Naruto’s feelings really were all over the place right now. He went from being filled with glee at figuring out that he was in love with Kakashi only to become fearful when he thought he might be rejected. Now he was getting all bent out of shape due to flower petals of all things. Did figuring out you were in love always get a person’s emotions all bent out of shape? Naruto opened his mouth to say something only to clamp it shut when he heard someone call out his name.

“Naruto!”

Naruto sat up and looked toward the source of the sound only to see that it been Sakura who had called out to him. She was walking toward him with a smile on her face. Sai was following closely behind her. Both of his teammates looked at the shadow clone only to turn their attention onto Naruto. Naruto ignored their questioning looks as he quickly dispelled his clone. The clone disappeared in a poof of smoke as Naruto stood up.

“Hey guys!” Naruto chirped out cheerfully.

“Why did you have a clone out?” Sakura asked once she got close to him.

“I was just thinking of maybe training a little with the clone while I waited for you guys,” Naruto lied. "I was talking with the clone about what sort of training we should do when you guys showed up." 

He really didn’t want to tell Sakura and Sai that he had really been using the clone to figure out his feelings toward Kakashi. He really didn’t need to hear Sai’s weird comments about it nor did he want to hear how Sakura would react to the news. Sakura studied him for a few seconds before she shrugged. Either she bought the lie, or she wasn’t in the mood to figure out what Naruto’s deal was. Either way Naruto was just going to be happy that he wasn’t asking questions. 

Naruto watched as Sakura turned to Sai and asked “So what sort of D-rank nightmares do you think Kakashi will give us today?” 

That strange emotionless smile that Sai was infamous for appeared on the boy's face as he said “Oh, I think he will probably send us on the Tora searching mission. He seems to really like that mission.” 

Both Sakura and Naruto shudder at the thought of the cat. Tora was a cat that came straight from hell, and no one could convince Sakura and Naruto otherwise.

“I’m pretty sure if there was a Tora mission available today a genin team would have picked it up already,” Sakura said. “Jōnin teachers love to have their students take that mission on.” 

“Why is that?” Sai asked.

Sakura immediately launched herself into a speech about how catching Tora was like a rite of passage for new genin teams, and how she was pretty sure the jōnin made bets on how long it took for genin teams to catch Tora and bring him back. As they chattered on about Tora and D-Rank missions Naruto tried to push his thoughts about his love for Kakashi and his fear of rejection to the back of his mind. Now really wasn’t the time to figure out just how he would go about confessing to Kakashi.

_‘I see another talk with my clones coming up in the near future,’_ Naruto thought before he shook his head.

Besides his fear of rejection that strange feeling of unease was still there, and Naruto didn’t know how he could get rid of that feeling. Upon thinking about that feeling of unease Naruto couldn't help but look down at the red petals that he had in his hands. The second he looked down at those blood red petals the breeze picked the petals up and quickly carried them away. Naruto watched the petals flutter away and disappear only to let out a soft sigh. He wished his fear of rejection and that weird ominous feeling of unease could disappear just as easily…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is going to be my first time every writing a Naruto fanfic, so this will be an adventure for me. Please bear with me if some people are a bit ooc. I'm still trying to get used to writing everyone. Anyway, bit of info. I'll always have what the flower of the chapter symbolizes here in the end notes. 
> 
>    
> Red Carnation flower: Red carnation flowers usually represent deep love and affection. It can also be used to say 'my heart aches'.


	2. Gardenia

About an hour had passed since his teammates had joined him to wait for the arrival of Kakashi, and while his strange sense of unease had yet to vanish completely the presence of his teammates had been enough to keep his mind off of it. The talk about Tora the demon cat had ended a while ago, and now they were just silently waiting. Well, Sai and Naruto were waiting in silence. Sakura was a bit less silent. She was muttering under her breath about the late jōnin all while pacing back and forth in front of her two male teammates. It was honestly a rather familiar sight. Back when he and Sakura had been fresh faced genin they used to pace about in irritation while waiting for their sensei. Naruto would usually loudly complain while Sakura would mutter some rather creative curses directed toward their sensei under her breath. 

_‘Some things never change,’_ Naruto thought with a tiny bit of amusement.

It was a little hard not to be a little amused as he watched Sakura pace in front of him with an annoyed scowl on her face. Naruto just sat there against the tree with a slight smile on his face as he watched his pink teammate pace around like a caged animal. Sai was sitting next to him drawing in his small sketch book without a care in the world. Naruto would occasionally glance over at Sai’s work only to nod slightly in appreciation. His sketch of Sakura was rather well done. He was getting really good at drawing her scowling face. 

“You know most people would think you would have gotten used to Kakashi-sensei’s tardiness by now,” Naruto commented. 

Sakura stopped in front of him and placed her hands on her hips as she stared down at her blond friend. “Oh, I’m used to it. Doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

Naruto let out a small snort of amusement upon hearing that. Sai stopped his sketching to give his team a thoughtful look. 

“Do you think Kakashi was always like that?” The dark eyed artist asked. 

“Oh, I bet Kakashi-sensei drove his own sensei crazy with how late he was back when he was a genin.” Sakura let out a soft laugh. “If he is ever on time for something then that means the world must be ending.”

 _‘Sakura would have lost that bet,’_ Naruto thought to himself.

Kakashi himself had once told Naruto that he used to be a rather punctual person when he was a child during one of their Friday night walks home.

_You know I used to show up early to all my missions and meetings when I was a child. I used to hate the very thought of being late to anything._

_Really? What changed?_

_Maa, things happened…_

Kakashi had never really elaborated beyond that and Naruto didn’t bother to pressure him about it. Kakashi would talk about his past when he was ready. Much as Naruto hated waiting there wasn’t really much he could do about Kakashi other than wait for him to hopefully talk about it. Naruto sighed as he silently debated over if he should ask Sakura if she wanted to practice throwing shurikens to pass the time. It wasn’t like they desperately needed the practice or anything, but it wasn’t like it would hurt to do so. Just when Naruto was about to make the suggestion Kakashi finally appeared with his little green book in hand and his visible eye curled up into one of his infamous eye smiles.

“Yo!” Kakashi called out cheerfully as he waved at his team with his free hand.

“You’re late!” Sakura and Naruto yell out at the same time.

There is no real heat in the words. At this point shouting that at Kakashi was just tradition.

“Sorry,” Kakashi says all while sounding not the least bit sorry. “I just got lost on the road of life.” 

“It has been a while since we heard that excuse,” Sakura said with a small huff of amusement.

“Got to use the classics once in a while.” Kakashi said with a slight shrug of his shoulders.

Sakura had said something to that, but Naruto didn’t really catch what she said. He was too busy staring at Kakashi. It was hard not to look at him. It wasn’t like he had done anything different to himself. Kakashi was wearing his usual outfit while holding one of his Icha Icha books. Nothing special really. Yet, to Naruto he looked perfect. Figuring out his feelings for Kakashi suddenly made the boy hyper aware of just how good he looked. The man was tall and had a body that made it very clear that he was built for speed. Maybe to some Kakashi looked tall and lanky, but to Naruto he just looked graceful. When Kakashi moved he moved gracefully and silently. Even when he was putting all his energy into looking as lazy as possible he still looked like he could bring down anyone who challenged him within a matter of seconds. His silver colored hair really seemed to shine under the light of the sun while his onyx colored eye shined with mirth. 

Naruto could just feel a blush start to stain his cheeks as he looked at the man. How had he never noticed just how lovely the man looked? Why did it take him so damn long to notice? Naruto’s mental drooling over Kakashi was cut short when he felt Sai place a hand on his forehead.

“What are you doing?” Naruto quickly asked as he shoved Sai’s hand off of his forehead. 

“You started turning red rather suddenly like you had a fever. I read in one of my books that if you can check someone’s temperature by putting your hand on their forehead.” Sai titled his head to the side like some sort of confused bird. “Was my book incorrect about that?”

Naruto wasn’t able to answer. The second after Sai asked that question Sakura had her hand on Naruto’s forehead.

“He’s right you are feeling a little warm. You feeling OK?” The girl asked in concern.

“I’m fine,” Naruto quickly reassured her. “I had a bit of a coughing fit earlier, but it wasn’t anything big.”

“Are you coming down with a cold maybe?” Kakashi asked. 

Naruto was quick to notice the concerned look the gray haired man was giving him as he asked that question. While he wasn’t overly happy about making Kakashi worry Naruto had to admit that seeing Kakashi concerned for him made him feel all warm and fuzzy. It showed that Kakashi cared about him, and that was enough to make the boy happy. 

“You are turning all red again,” Sai chirped out. 

“Its fine. I’m fine.” Naruto jumped up to his feet and gave his team a large grin. “Seriously you guys are worrying about nothing. I don’t feel sick at all.”

He really didn’t. He felt fine for the most part. He didn’t feel lightheaded or stuffed up. At most he felt this brief tingling feeling coming from his throat that seemed to suggest that another coughing fit might be on the horizon, but that feeling was fading away with every passing second. His team was giving him unsure looks as if they didn’t know if they completely believed Naruto when he said he was fine, but eventually Sakura sighed as she shook her head. 

“Alright, you do seem to be fine. Still, if you really do start feeling sick tell me alright?”

“I will,” Naruto promised. 

Honestly, they were worrying about nothing. Naruto gave her a reassuring smile before he turned his attention onto Kakashi. The man still had a hint of concern lingering on his face, but seeing Naruto grin at him seemed to be enough to make that small hint of worry go away.

“So what sort of D-Rank mission are we doing today sensei?” Naruto asked. “I feel like I can take on whatever you can throw at us!” 

“Yeah, just as long as it isn’t Tora.” Sakura muttered.

Kakashi’s infamous eye smile appeared when the man heard that. The man said nothing as he smiled at his team. That smile was giving Naruto some seriously mixed emotions. One side of the coin it was nice to see his genuine happy expression. On the other side of the coin the man’s silence at the Tora comment wasn’t exactly filling the blond with confidence about what their D-Rank mission was. 

Sakura must have been in the same boat as him because he heard the girl slowly ask “Kakashi-sensei you didn’t get us the Tora mission did you?” 

The man didn’t answer. He just continued to eye smile at them as he held his book up to cover the masked half of his face.

“Kakashi-sensei,” Naruto said slowly. “Please tell us you didn’t get us the Tora job.” 

“Maa, maa….” Kakashi said happily. 

“Don’t ‘maa’ us! Just tell us what D-Rank mission your got it!” Sakura shouted. 

“Well, I know how much you two love the Tora mission so I really tried my best to get it for you.” Kakashi snapped his book shut and slipped it into his weapons pouch. “Besides Sai hasn’t done that mission before, and we really can’t have that. Catching Tora is like a rite of passage for Konoha ninjas.” 

Naruto and Sakura let out loud groans of displeasure while Sai just stared at Kakashi in curiosity. 

“Oh, I know you are so excited for the Tora mission but I’m afraid to say that I didn’t make it to the mission desk in time to pick it up. A genin team picked it up an hour before I got there.”

“That poor genin team,” Naruto deadpanned. 

He was being somewhat serious when he said that. No one should have to deal with that demon cat. Naruto could still remember how that cat had tried to claw his face off last time his team had to bring the cat back to his owner.

“Better them then us,” Sakura muttered.

“Agreed,” Naruto said with a slight nod of his head. 

Sai just stared at his two teammates for a moment before he asked “Would it really have been so bad to take on the mission? I’m rather curious to see what Tora is like.”

“Trust me Sai there are some things in this life you never want to experience,” Naruto grumbled. 

Clearly ignoring Naruto’s grumbling Kakashi just continued to smile as he said “Don’t worry Sai I’ll make sure you pick up at least one Tora mission for you all before your punishment is up.”

It took all of Naruto’s willpower to keep from groaning. Sakura sighed as her shoulders slumped slightly in defeat.

“What mission did you get for us today Kakashi-sensei?”

She didn’t even bother arguing about the Tora mission. There was no use fighting the inevitable. Kakashi wordlessly motioned for them to follow him as he started to walk away. Without even giving it a second thought the three members of Team Kakashi quickly fell into step behind their team leader. 

“You have a landscaping job to do,” The man said as they left the training field and started to make their way into town.

“Landscaping?” Sai echoed.

“Yep, to be more specific you guys will be fixing up the back garden of a mansion that is being renovated.” Kakashi shrugged slightly. “The home is located at the edge of the village and has been left to rot for a while now. The owners want the place all fixed up before they move in.”

“So what exactly do they want us to do in the garden?” Naruto asked.

“Oh, the garden is a complete mess from what I heard so you guys will be doing a lot of things.” Kakashi held up a hand and started counting the amount of chores that they were expected to do. “Weeding, cleaning the koi ponds, planting a new flower beds, clearing out the garbage that has gotten into the small stream that runs through the garden, getting the vegetable patch started up.” 

“So basically everything that you could possibly do in a garden?” Sai asked. 

“Yep,” Kakashi said a bit too cheerfully. “I think this D-Rank mission will keep you busy all day.” 

Sakura let out a soft sigh before she said “You don’t have to sound so excited about that fact.” 

A rather cheerful look was all Sakura got from Kakashi in return. Sakura just gave him a rather deadpanned look before she looked over at Naruto.

“You think it’s too late to hand him over to Hiruko?” She jokingly asked. 

Her tone was light and teasing so Naruto knew she wasn’t even remotely serious. Still, just hearing that made Naruto mentally cringe at the very idea. After the emotional roller-coaster ride that Naruto had been sent through with that mission the blond boy knew he would never be able to think about the experience without mentally cringing.

“I think that ship had already sailed,” Naruto was somehow able to bring himself to say. 

_‘Hopefully that is a ship that never returns,’_ Naruto couldn’t help but mentally think.

Kakashi let out a loud exaggerated sigh as he said “My students are so cruel to talk about wanting to hand me over to a missing-nin.” 

Sai was rather quick to say “It’s not like we can actually do so. Hiruko is dead and gone.”

“When you say it like that it just makes it sound like you would hand me over if he was still alive.” Kakashi pointed out. 

An empty smile from Sai was the only response that Kakashi got from the boy. Kakashi sighed yet again, but the look in his eye showed that he was more amused then anything. The joking conversation about trading Kakashi in came to a stop when they reached their destination. It had been surprisingly close to the location of the training field. When they reached their destination the three teenagers couldn’t help but stare at the manor for a moment. It was huge, and while not abandoned looking per say it was clearly in desperate need of being fixed up although it looked the owners of the building were already starting the process of repairing the building. The manor was crawling with people. No matter where Naruto looked he would see someone doing something to fix the place up. Up on the roof they could see workers replacing old tiles with new ones. Ninjas who were clearly genin were racing around the house cleaning the floors, fixing shoji doors, and tossing out garbage bags filled with junk from the house that obviously wasn’t wanted anymore. 

“Looks like we aren’t the only ones doing a D-Rank mission here,” Sakura muttered as she watched a few genin scramble into the building with paint cans and brushes in hand. 

Naruto let out a small hum upon hearing that, but other than that the blond boy stayed silent. The three members of Team Kakashi stood there and watched the chaos for a few minutes before Kakashi finally decided to get their attention.

“Alright, come on you guys have a job to do.”

They silently follow Kakashi as he leads them around the house and to the backyard. Upon stepping into the yard Naruto couldn’t help but stop and stare at it. The house had been a bit of a mess, but nothing overwhelming. The back garden was on a whole other level. To say that it was in a bad shape would be a severe understatement. The grass was up to their knees, dead ivy clung to every statue and garden decoration that doted the landscape, the flowerbeds were filled to the brim with weeds, and a few trees that were growing in the backyard were in desperate need of pruning. With every second that passed Naruto would find something new to add to the growing list of things that needed to be done to make the garden actually look like a garden and not an overgrown field. Near the entrance of the garden were a pile of garden supplies. Naruto didn’t miss the fact that there were also a bunch of flowers ranging from tulips to daffodils sitting there obviously meant to be planted into the flowerbeds once the flowerbeds were ready to actually have something planted in them again. 

“Kakashi-sensei this isn’t a simple landscaping job,” Naruto muttered. “It could take all weekend to tame this jungle of a yard.” 

Kakashi only gave the blond haired boy an eye smile as he said “All the more reason to get started as soon as you can. The sooner you finish it the sooner you will be done.” 

Naruto heard Sakura let out a loud sigh upon hearing that, but the girl stayed silent as Kakashi listed out the chores they were expected to do. The chores that Kakashi lists are pretty much everything Naruto already expected.

Mow the grass, get rid of the weeds in the flower beds, get rid of the dead vines that were covering everything, plant the new flowers in the flowerbeds once the weeds were gone, clean out the river the runs through the garden of any garbage, clean the koi ponds, cut dead branches off of the trees, trim the hedges…. 

On and on the list of chores goes to the point that Naruto seriously wonders if the people who made this a D-Rank mission really expected it to be done in a day because Naruto was pretty sure that there was no way in hell that was happening. There were just way too many chores to do and way too few hours in the day for them to actually be able to finish it all. If they couldn’t do it all in a day what hope did a three fresh faced genin have?

“I’m starting to think that maybe taking on a Tora mission wouldn’t have been so bad after all,” Naruto hears Sakura whisper into his ear.

Naruto can’t help but chuckle upon hearing that. Kakashi gave Naruto a sidelong glance, but he didn’t say anything about the laughter. Instead he continued with the explanation by saying “Due to how much work is involved with this D-Rank mission it will be your only D-Rank mission for today.”

Naruto nodded as he mentally thought about how they could tackle this D-Rank mission. If he created a few shadow clones they could help with the jobs and make things way easier and quicker. Of course right when he started thinking about his shadow clones Kakashi had to rain on his parade by saying “No using shadow clones.”

Naruto’s loud groan of disappointment upon hearing that was so loud that it could probably be heard for miles.

“Sensei! Without shadow clones this job will take forever!” Naruto whined. 

Kakashi actually sounded a bit sympathetic to his team’s situation when he said “Sorry, Hokage-sama’s orders. It’s not really a punishment if you can just have your shadow clones do all the work.”

Naruto let out another loud groan while Sakura just sighed.

“Naruto, complaining about it isn’t going to change anything,” Sakura said as she started to make her way over to the pile of gardening supplies. “The sooner we start the sooner we can get it over with.” 

Kakashi wastes no time in climbing up the nearest tree and plopping down on the lowest branch. Kakashi must be in a nostalgic mood because instead of pulling out the Icha Icha Tactics book that Naruto had given him when he came back from the training trip with Jiraiya he pulls out the orange covered Icha Icha Paradise book to read. Upon seeing the familiar cover of that book for one split second Naruto feels like he’s back in time to the days when he was a young genin forced to do D-Rank mission chores while Kakashi spent the time reading his book in the background without a care in the world.

The moment passes when he hears Sai say “I can take care of the weeds in the flowerbeds.”

“I’ll deal with the vines and dead tree branches,” Sakura offers.

Naruto's two teammates glance over at him as if wordlessly asking him what he wanted to do. Naruto scratches the back of his head as he slowly says “I guess I’ll mow the grass?”

His two teammates nod before they go off to do their jobs. Naruto let’s out a soft sigh before he joins them. This was going to be a lousy mission he could already tell….

\------------------------------

_‘This job sucks.’_

That is all Naruto can think of as he slowly walks through the knee deep waters of the river. It was a thought that he had been thinking on and off since they started the D-Rank mission, but as time wore on it soon started popping into his mind every other minute. Still, it was better to think of that then think of his other problem. Upon thinking of his other problem Naruto couldn’t help but glance over at the tree that Kakashi had spent almost all day in. The man wasn’t there at the moment. He had left ten minutes ago to do something or other, but he had promised to return. Naruto was pretty sure the man had said what he was running off to do, but he honestly hadn’t caught a word the man said. Instead Naruto had been too busy trying not to stare at the man. It was a pretty hard thing to do. The D-Rank mission was dull and it didn’t really require any brainpower to do.

So with nothing to really keep his focus Naruto found his eyes drifting up to the branch where Kakashi was resting. He honestly looked so peaceful there from his perch in the tree. He had been stretched out across the branch like a lazy cat looking down at the open book in his hands with look of concentration on his face. He must have read the book enough that he could recite it by memory alone, but he still gave the book all of his attention. When Naruto was close enough to the tree to get a really good look at Kakashi he could see the silently mouthing out the words that he was reading to himself.

It was actually sort of cute to see just how into the book Kakashi was getting. Of course that cute part was dulled a bit when Naruto remembered just what was in those books, but honestly Naruto was willing to ignore that fact. Out of all of the books that Jiraiya wrote Icha Icha Paradise could almost be considered sweet due to being more about newly formed couple slowly discovering what being in love really meant. It was mostly innocent romantic stuff at least until you got to the middle of the story and then the smut started happening, but for now Naruto was willing to forget that fact in order to watch Kakashi.

Naruto liked it when a breeze would kick in. Kakashi had pretty great reaction to the wind. Every slight breeze that would blow would ruffle the man’s silver colored hair and cause him to close his eye. Kakashi would stop his silent reading and just enjoy the breeze for as long as it lasted. He looked so peaceful when he was enjoying the breeze to the point that if Naruto knew how to make a gentle breeze happen with jutsu he would use the jutsu all the time just to see Kakashi’s peaceful look. Hell, Naruto already made a mental note in his head to figure out how to make a jutsu like that. It would probably be worthless in a battle, but heck there were probably plenty of jutsu out there that existed just to make life easier. Why not add one more to that list? 

When Kakashi would look up from his book all thoughts about how nice Kakashi looked and how he really needed to figure out how to make a soft breeze related jutsu would get flung into the back of Naruto’s mind due to the fact that for some reason every time Kakashi looked up from his book he would look right at Naruto only to see Naruto staring right back at him. Naruto would blush and quickly look down at his work. He would try to think about the mission and how much it sucked, and to some extant those sort of thoughts kept his mind busy for a while. He would think about how trimming the grass for a yard that was as big as the manor itself was a major pain. He would think about how as the hours dragged on it would get hotter and hotter to the point that it almost left the realm of uncomfortable to just become downright unbearable. Sometimes he would call out to Sakura and Sai and ask how they were doing. For the most part they only gave short answers like _‘Fine’_ , or _‘I think I’m getting close to being done’_. 

The best answer Naruto got was when Sai had just stopped his weeding job to give Naruto an empty smile as he said in an entirely too cheerful sounding tone “This job is downright miserable.”

Due to the tone of voice Naruto couldn’t tell if the boy was joking, or if he was being dead serious. At any rate his friends’ occasional comments and his own thoughts about the miserable job kept his mind off of Kakashi for a little while. Of course the key words there were _‘a little while_ ’. Naruto’s mind couldn’t stay on miserable subjects for long. Eventually his mind would drift back to Kakashi and before Naruto knew it he was staring at the silver haired man again. It was almost a relief that Kakashi left because that meant he couldn’t be caught staring at him any longer. Unfortunately, his mind took Kakashi’s absence as permission to think of nothing but Kakashi. To be more specific his mind thought it was the perfect time to imagine different sorts of scenarios that Kakashi and Naruto could be in.

 _What if you could sit in the tree with Kakashi? Wouldn’t that be nice? You could lean up against him, and maybe he would wrap an arm around you. You could put your head on his chest and listen as he reads out loud to you…_

Naruto almost felt like hammering his head against a tree just to stop the thought process. He could picture that scenario. He could picture that scenario so easily it was almost scary. He could almost feel Kakashi’s arm wrapped around his shoulder. He could imagine the man maybe running his fingers through Naruto’s hair in a soothing manner as Naruto snuggled up against him. Naruto knew that if he had the chance he would run his fingers through Kakashi’s hair. He just had to know if it was as soft as it looked. If Naruto closed his eyes he could almost hear Kakashi’s soothing voice in his ear as he gets ready to read the story out loud.

_I think you will like this book Naruto. It’s not as slow paced, and it has a lot of action in it…._

Naruto almost groaned at the very thought of it. By the time he finished mowing the whole back yard he practically flung himself into the river to clean it out. He could have used chakra to walk on top of the water, but honestly he was hoping that maybe the cold chill of the water would help to keep his mind focused on the task at hand. Of course it didn’t do that at all. The water was cool and refreshing during the hot day which was nice, but it did nothing to keep his mind off of Kakashi. The whole time he was using the little pool net that the house owners had supplied to get rid of the surprisingly small amount of trash that was in the river his mind kept playing that possible scenario with Kakashi over and over again in his head.

He wanted that daydream to become reality. He wanted so badly for it to happen it almost hurt.

 _‘That situation can never happen unless you confess,’_ The logical part of his brain said.

Just thinking that made Naruto tighten his grip on the pool net. The thought of confessing scared him, and it didn’t help that some dark little voice in the back of his head would start to whisper less than stellar things to him.

 _ **‘Would Kakashi even accept a confession from you?’**_ The negative little voice in his head asked. _**‘Is he even romantically interested in guys?’**_

That thought caused Naruto to freeze right there on the spot. Would Kakashi be interested in dating a guy? He didn’t know. Naruto knew next to nothing about Kakashi’s love life. He didn’t know about any ex-lovers that Kakashi might have had, or if he had ever been in love with anyone before. He never talked about going on dates or even having to go out on a date. No one had ever mentioned Kakashi ever being romantically involved with anyone either. The good news to that was the fact that at least he knew Kakashi was single. The bad news to that was the fact that did not know if Kakashi would be willing to date a man. As Naruto stood there in the middle of the river lost in thought he completely missed the fact that someone was calling out to him.

“Naruto?”

Naruto just stared down at his reflection as that dark voice in his head asked **‘Even if he was willing to date a man would he really be willing to date you of all people?’**

Naruto cringed a little at that thought as he tightened his grip on the pool net handle even more. He was holding it so tightly now that it was a miracle that the plastic wasn’t breaking in his hands. 

“Naruto? ”

_**‘Why would he date you?’** _

Naruto honestly didn’t have an answer to that mental question. Why would the famous Copycat Ninja date him of all people? Kakashi was a powerful intelligent jōnin. Even with the mask on Kakashi was beautiful with his silver hair and his expressive obsidian colored eye. His other eye was always covered, but when it was uncovered Naruto was always struck by how it was a beautiful crimson color. The eye may have not been his original eye, but to Naruto it was just as much a part of him as his obsidian eye was. Those eye were beautiful in their own unique ways. Hell, even if one ignored his eyes Kakashi’s voice alone was enough to get anyone going. Smooth and usually soft it was the type of voice made for radio it was that good. Honestly, Naruto could probably go on for a while about the things that he liked about Kakashi. Chances were pretty high that there were plenty of other people who thought the exact same thing as Naruto. In fact, Kakashi probably had a lot of suitors who would jump at the chance to date the man. Kakashi probably had a long list of suitors that he could choose from if he really wanted to date someone.

With all that in mind why would he ever chose to date Naruto? 

“Naruto seriously if you don’t answer me I’ll use a water jutsu on you.”

As Naruto’s thoughts took a turn to the depressing he could feel a sort of tickling sensation in his throat. Already, Naruto could tell that a coughing fit was coming his way. Heck, just thinking about it caused a small almost inaudible cough to escape from his lips. Accompanying that impending coughing fit feeling was also the small feeling of dread that he had felt earlier today. He really didn’t understand why he felt it. All he did know that it was this gut feeling that something was wrong. 

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Suiton: Suijinheki no Jutsu!”

Naruto had only about a minute to notice a rather tiny looking dragon made water come flying right toward his face before the water smashed right into him. Naruto fell back into the water only to quickly flail about in his attempt to get back up. Water splashed everywhere as Naruto scrambled back to his feet. Somehow even with all of his flailing around he was able to keep his grip on the pool net. Once Naruto was standing again he whirled around to find his attacker only to see Kakashi standing there by the river giving Naruto a rather unimpressed look. 

“Well, that got your attention,” The man said as he stared at the blond haired boy. 

Kakashi was soaked. Water dripped down from his drenched silver hair, and his jōnin vest and shirt looked like someone had quickly flung them into a pool before taking them and forcing the poor jōnin to put the sopping wet things back on. It was pretty clear that Kakashi had been hit by Naruto's rather dramatic splashing. Naruto felt a small twinge of guilt for soaking the man, but that was quickly forgotten in favor of Naruto’s irritation.

“What did you do that for?! If you wanted my attention you could have just called my name!”

“Naruto I called your name three times,” Kakashi said with a sigh. “You didn’t respond even once.” 

Naruto’s irritation fades away upon hearing that. Had Kakashi really called out to him? Naruto hadn’t even heard him.

“He did warn you,” Naruto hears Sakura call out. “Told you he was going to use a water jutsu and everything.” 

Naruto looks behind Kakashi only to see that Sakura and Sai are sitting underneath the tree that Kakashi had claimed as his own. Sai is staring at him with an emotionless expression while Sakura has a highly amused expression on her face. It was pretty clear to Naruto that the girl had thought that watching Naruto flail around like in idiot in the water had been highly entertaining. Naruto was quick to ignore Sakura in favor of looking at the small pile of plastic bags that were sitting in front of her.

“I got lunch,” Kakashi said. “Do you remember me telling you that I was going out to get food, or did you miss that too?” 

Naruto could feel is cheeks start to burn a little in embarrassment. Honestly, he really didn’t catch Kakashi saying that he was going to get lunch. He had been far too busy trying to not think about the jōnin to really pay much attention to what the man was saying. Naruto hears Kakashi let out a long exaggerated.

“I was nice enough to bring you all lunch, and you repay my kindness by splashing me with about a gallon of water.” Kakashi shakes his head. “Some thanks that I got.”

“You could have dodged if you really wanted to,” Naruto says as he climbs out of the river.

“True enough,” Kakashi agrees. “I don’t really mind. The cold water is rather nice on a hot day.” 

The man glanced down at his soaking wet jōnin vest and shirt with a look of slight irritation. “The wet clothing is not as nice.”

Naruto couldn’t help but silently agree. As he walked over to where his friends were he took of his jacket and laid it out on the grass under the sun. With how hot it was chances were high that his jacket would be dry by the time lunch was over. He dropped the pool net down beside his jacket before he turned to look at Kakashi. He looked at Kakashi just in time to see the man remove his jōnin jacket and place it down on the grass near Naruto’s jacket to dry. The man hesitated for a brief second before he shrugged and removed his soaking wet shirt.

Naruto couldn’t help but stare. He had seen Kakashi shirtless a few times before, but it was only now that he really got to admire his form. Kakashi was muscular, but not too bulky. Lean, but not to the point of looking skeletal. He was perfect really. His pale skin had a few jagged scars here and there. They were maybe not the prettiest things to look at, but Naruto liked them. To Naruto they were permanent testaments to Kakashi’s ability to survive even the toughest of battles. As Kakashi bent down to lay his shirt out to dry Naruto couldn’t help but really soak in how Kakashi’s muscles moved when he stretched. Of course the second Naruto realized he was pretty much ogling at a shirtless Kakashi he quickly averted his gaze and plopped down next to Sai.

 _‘Maybe Jiraiya-sensei rubbed off on me more than I thought,’_ He couldn’t help but think. 

The thought was dropped when he heard Sai ask “So what did you get us for lunch?”

“Ramen?” Naruto couldn’t help but automatically ask. 

A soft chuckle near his ear showed that Kakashi had decided to sit in the empty spot next to Naruto although Naruto didn’t dare look over at the man. He kept his gaze firmly glued onto the bags that were sitting in front of him.

“No ramen,” Kakashi said. “I figured we would be going to Ichiraku for our team dinner this week so there really isn’t a need to get it for lunch too.” 

Naruto’s disappointment over no ramen for lunch is quickly replaced with glee when he hears that they are going to be going to Ichiraku tonight. Going to Ichiraku on Friday meant Kakashi would be giving him one free bowl of ramen, but even better than that going to Ichiraku meant that Kakashi would be sharing what stories he knew while Naruto ate a free bowl of ramen.

Naruto was fine with that.

Naruto was more than fine with that.

“If you didn’t bring us ramen what did you get?” Sai asked.

“Oh, I just grabbed whatever I was in the mood for.” Kakashi answered. 

Sai opened the bag that was closest to him only to immediately zero in on something that was in the bag. Within a matter of seconds Sai was yanking a container out of the bag. A quick glance at the container showed why Sai had been so enthusiastic. It was a tofu dish. To be more specific it was hiyayakko dish made with momen tofu and it had been topped off with a whole bunch of chopped scallions, grated ginger, and sesame seeds. If Naruto remembered right dishes made with momen tofu were Sai’s favorite although the boy was fond of tofu dishes in general. 

“There should be some teriyaki tofu and mabo tofu in that bag too.” 

Upon hearing that a small smile slowly crypt onto Sai’s face. It wasn’t an empty or emotionless smile that usually appeared on the boy’s face. No, this small crooked smile that he was now wearing was a genuine smile of joy.

_‘It’s funny that he can only pull of a genuine smile when he isn’t even trying,’_ Naruto thought.

Heck, at this point Sai probably wasn’t even aware of the fact that he was smiling. He was way too busy pulling the lid off of the tofu dish to really notice anything right now. “Get enough tofu dishes sensei?” Sakura asked. “I was in the mood for tofu,” Kakashi said as he shrugged. 

“Uh-huh,” Sakura said in a tone that made it very clear that she didn’t believe that. 

She had a soft smile on her face as she said that. Naruto couldn’t blame her for smiling like that. Like her Naruto knew why Kakashi had truly gotten so many tofu dishes. He had gotten it for Sai. As Sakura rolled her eyes she started looking through the bag that had been placed in front of her. She dug around through the bag for a while only to quickly freeze when she spotted something of interest. 

“You got anmitsu?” She asked happily as she pulled the desert out of the bag. 

“I wanted to have some anmitsu for desert,” Kakashi said calmly.

“Uh-huh,” Both Sakura and Naruto deadpanned. 

That wasn’t true either. That anmitsu was for Sakura and they all knew it. Kakashi pointed at the bag in front of her as he said “Lunch first desert later.” 

Sakura rolled her eyes upon hearing that, but her smile didn’t go away as she placed her desert to the side to pull out a few onigiri from the bag. There were a bunch of different onigiri in the bag, but Naruto couldn’t help but smile just a bit upon seeing the fact that a few of them were umeboshi onigiri. That was another one of Sakura’s favorite foods. Naruto was snapped out of his thoughts when Kakashi shoved a bag toward Naruto.

“Here I think you will like this.” Naruto peered into the bag only to start grinning once he saw what was inside.

“You got red bean soup!” Naruto shouted out as he pulled out the small container filled to the brim with the stuff.

“I remember you saying that you liked that stuff once, so I got it for you.” Kakashi said. 

Upon hearing that Naruto couldn’t help but put the soup down and look over at Kakashi. He had mentioned that liked red bean soup almost as much as ramen, but he had said that months ago. It had been a passing comment made when he was trying to figure out what to order at some restaurant Yamato insisted that they go to. The fact that Kakashi had bother to remember that was sweet. However, more than that Naruto was unable to ignore the fact that Kakashi had said he specifically got it because he knew Naruto liked it. He didn’t try to downplay it by saying he wanted some red bean soup anyway like he had with the tofu dishes and the anmitsu. He clearly said that he got it just for Naruto. That fact made a soft smile appear on the blonde’s face. He felt all warm inside just thinking of the fact that Kakashi went out of his way to get him something he liked and was able to admit to the freely.

“Kakashi-sensei you’re…” Naruto started to say only to trail off.

 _You’re lovely._

The words were right there at the tip of Naruto’s tongue. He wanted to say it. He desperately wanted Kakashi to know that Naruto really did think he was lovely, but he couldn’t say the words. It was like some sort of fear was holding him back. If Naruto told Kakashi he was lovely how would the older man react? Would he take the complement gracefully? Would he laugh it off? Would he cringe at the thought of Naruto calling him lovely of all things? Calling someone lovely was something that someone would say to their lover. It wasn’t exactly something that regular friends would say to each other. For one split second Naruto could feel that familiar tickling sensation in his throat. However, that feeling was all but forgotten when a harsh cough made its way out of his mouth. That one harsh cough was quickly followed by a barrage of harsh coughs. 

“Naruto!?”

Naruto couldn’t even respond to Kakashi’s worried call of his name. All the boy could do was clamp his hands over his mouth as his body shook with each cough that escaped from his mouth. It felt like something was forcing its way up his throat and out of his mouth. It didn’t hurt per say, but the feeling was very unpleasant. He could feel something fall into his hands with each cough that escaped from his lips, but honestly he couldn’t focus on just what it was. It was taking all of his energy to not just collapse on the ground and just lie there until his coughing fit passed. All he could do was just clamp his eyes shut and try to remain in a sitting position. Naruto could feel a hand gently rub his back in some sort of attempt at comfort. Naruto honestly couldn’t tell if it was Sai or Kakashi doing it. He couldn’t really focus on anything beyond the fact that his body was trembling now from the force of his coughing. 

“What in the world….?” Naruto was somehow able to hear Sai say over his coughing. 

The boy sounded downright confused and very concerned. It was probably the most emotion that Naruto had ever heard in the boy’s voice.

“Sakura, what is wrong with him?” Naruto heard Kakashi say in this rather authoritative sounding captain voice. “Have you ever seen something like this in your medical books?”

“I-I don’t know what is wrong with him,” Sakura said quickly. “I never seen someone cough up something like that before, and I never read of such a thing happening in any of my medical books.”

 _‘Just what the hell am I coughing up?’_ Naruto thought.

Sakura read tons of medical books just for fun so she knew some pretty obscure medical stuff. If she didn’t know something that was a pretty good cause for alarm. Naruto wanted to pull his hands away from his mouth and see just what the hell was getting his teammates all worked up, but honestly he couldn’t do that. All he could do was wait for the coughing fit to pass. It took about a good four minutes to do so, but to Naruto it felt much longer than that. His teammates had fallen silent after Sakura had revealed that she had no idea what was going on with Naruto. They were so silent in fact that the only thing that let Naruto know that they were still there was the fact that he could still feel someone rubbing his back in a soothing manor. After what felt like hours the feeling of something large falling out of his mouth and into his hands hit him. The second that thing fell out of his mouth his coughing slowly came to a stop. When he finally stopped coughing Naruto just sat there with his hands kept firmly in place and his eyes still clamped tightly shut. He was almost afraid to open his eyes and see whatever it was that his teammates saw. 

“Naruto?”

The sound of Kakashi calling his name made the boy open his eyes. The first thing he noticed were the scared worried looks that his three teammates were sending him. Seeing their worry honestly made Naruto’s heart ache a little. He never wanted to see his most precious people look so worried like that. Naruto slowly moved his hands away his mouth and looked down. There in his hands were pure white flower petals. It wasn’t even four or five petals either. No, there he had a handful of petals sitting there in the palms of his hands. A few petals must have fallen out of his hands while he was coughing because he also had a pretty significant amount of white flower petals spread out in front of him. The petals were strange enough on their own, but Naruto didn’t really focus on them for long. No, his focus was on the other object that he had in his hands. Lying there on top of the pile of white petals was a flower. It was a little misshapen possibly due to being mashed between Naruto’s hands and face for so long, but it was still recognizable as a rather beautiful white flower. Upon seeing the flower about three thoughts went flying through the blonde’s head.

His first thought was the fact that he was pretty sure that the large thing that he had felt fall out of his mouth had been the flower.

The second thought he had was that he was now pretty sure that he had actually coughed up those carnation petals from earlier that morning. 

His last thought was the fact that the flower that was lying there in his hands was a gardenia. Heck, Naruto was pretty sure the white petals were gardenia petals.

Naruto wasn’t even sure how his mind was able to focus enough to figure out that he was holding a gardenia. After coughing up flower petals he probably should have been freaking out or focusing on just why he was coughing up flowers. Yet, the _‘oh it is a gardenia’_ thought was the third one to flash through his mind. There was absolutely no doubt in his mind that the flower and petals were gardenias. Naruto didn’t have a vast flower knowledge like Ino did, but he didn’t have to know a lot about flowers to be able to recognize the small white flower. He had a small gardenia plant growing in his apartment. It was just one out of several flowering plants that he had back at home. He saw that gardenia plant every day, so if anyone was going to recognize the plant it was going to be him. Still, while Naruto may have known just what sort of flower he was coughing up that didn’t answer why exactly he was coughing the flower up in the first place. 

“Naruto?”

Upon hearing Sakura softly calling out his name he looked up at the pink haired girl. Worried green eyes stared right back into his blue eyes as Sakura asked “Naruto why are you coughing up flowers?” 

There were probably hundreds of rational responses that Naruto could have given in response to Sakura’s question. He could have honestly told her he had no clue why he suddenly coughed up a bunch of flower petals and one tattered flower. He could have revealed that he was now pretty sure that he had been coughing up carnation petals earlier that morning. He could have confessed to the fact that coughing up flowers actually scared him a little. However, Naruto’s brain had clearly left the building the second a flower of all things popped out of his mouth because for some stupid reason saying something rational and sane never crossed the boy’s mind. Instead the number one hyperactive knucklehead ninja just said the third thing that had popped into his head upon seeing the small white flower. 

“If you want to get technical it’s actually a gardenia.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gardenia: When given to a person a gardenia can be used to say "You are lovely". It also signifies a secret love or an untold love.
> 
> The foods: According to the Naruto wiki...
> 
> Sai: Sai's favorite food is momen tofu. It just said momen tofu so I figured that he liked any dish made with the stuff. I also assume he probably likes tofu in general. Sai doesn't strike me as being really picky when it comes to food.
> 
> Sakura: Her favorite is anmitsu. It also said that she really liked umeboshi, so umeboshi onigiri would probably be something she really likes. 
> 
> Naruto: According to his wiki page he likes red bean soup and ramen, so red bean soup was what I went with.


	3. Dark Pink Azalea Flowers

_There’s something wrong with Naruto._

That was a thought that had been going through Kakashi’s head for the past three days now. He didn't think there was anything serious going on. There wasn’t anything major going on in the village, and as far as Kakashi knew everyone was safe and healthy. Naruto wasn’t suffering from any injuries either. Tsunade had practically dragged all of his team to the hospital for a checkup the second they had returned to the village from the rescue mission that had now been permanently labeled the ‘Hiruko Incident’. She had given them all a clean bill of health. There was a bit of exhaustion, but that was easily cured with a good night’s sleep. All in all, Naruto should have been fine.

Yet, Kakashi was quick to notice that the blond really wasn’t fine. Naruto still smiled those large joyful smiles that made Kakashi want to smile right along with him. He still laughed easily, and loudly complained about D-Rank missions like he always did. To anyone else Naruto seemed to be just fine. Yet, Kakashi had noticed that Naruto wasn’t fine and he seemed to be the only one who noticed. Lately Naruto seemed to be really distracted by something. He would get lost in thought rather easily, and if no one was talking to him he would stay lost in thought. Kakashi had no idea what Naruto was thinking about, but he was under the impression that it wasn’t anything good. Whenever he got lost in thought he would always look confused. Maybe not worrying on its own, but it didn’t look like simple confusion. He honestly looked lost. It was like he didn’t know what to think, or at least he had no idea how to approach the problem that seemed to be haunting his mind.

Whenever Naruto would notice someone looking his way or hear someone speak to him he would be quick to erase his lost look and act like nothing was wrong. However, the second the boy thought no one was paying attention to him he would slip right back into looking confused and unsure of what to think. It was a little worrying to be honest. Naruto rarely looked so troubled. Whenever he had that sort of look on his face it was always for a good reason. The fact that Naruto hadn’t even said anything about his problem was also a bit odd.

Naruto didn’t tend to keep things bottled up for very long or at all for that matter. Naruto was the type of person who wore his heart on his sleeve. If he had an issue or question he was usually pretty quick to voice it out loud, or seek out someone he trusted to ask his question. He never stayed quiet when it came to his true feelings or thoughts for very long. Honestly, it was sort of refreshing to have someone be so honest. While possibly not the best trait for a ninja to have Kakashi had to admit that he sometimes liked having someone around who was so open about their thoughts and feelings.

With all that in mind Kakashi found it downright odd that Naruto was staying so quiet about whatever it was that was bothering him. Another thing he noticed was the fact that Naruto had been staring at him a lot. Naruto would just look at Kakashi and give him these looks that suggested that the gears in his head were turning as one thought after another popped into his little blond head. Sometimes Naruto would look at him as if he were trying to solve a difficult puzzle. Kakashi was rather fond of that look. He would never admit this out loud, but Naruto looked rather cute when he was thinking hard about something. He would lightly bite his bottom lip in thought as he stared intently at whatever was vexing him with a focused look in his vivid blue eyes. Naruto’s head would tilt ever so slightly to the side like a curious puppy examining a new toy, and the boy would almost always end up crossing his arms while he was thinking. While Kakashi wasn’t exactly sure why he was getting those sorts of looks as of late he didn’t mind them. 

What he did mind was when Naruto got this sad devastated looks on his face. Kakashi hadn’t gotten that look very much. Maybe three times total. The sad look never lasted long either. Maybe ten seconds at most, but to Kakashi they were ten seconds too long. Kakashi never wanted to see such a look on the usually cheerful blonde’s face, and he never wanted to be the target of such looks. The few times he got that look he would wonder why Naruto was giving him such a look. 

_‘Maybe he’s thinking about the Hiruko Incident?’_ He thought.

It was a pretty strong possibility. It had only been a few days since the incident happened, so it wasn’t like Kakashi could blame Naruto for still trying to mentally work through it. Personally Kakashi tried to just put the whole event behind him and not think about it at all. Still, sometimes late at night his mind could not help but think about it. Thinking about the event would always send the Copycat ninja on an emotional roller coaster ride. He would just lie there in bed and think about every emotion that he had felt during the incident, and every thought that had ran though his head during the incident. He had felt and thought a lot of things during the Hiruko incident. 

He had felt fear over the fact that his village had gotten so close to being destroyed. Fear that his village could have gotten dragged into a war that could destroy so many lives. There was a bit of sadness at the fact that he was leaving his friends, and his team behind. His heart felt heavy at the thought that he would be leaving his team behind to never see them again. He would never see Sakura become the master medic-nin that he knew she would one day become. He wouldn’t get to watch Sai bumble through his attempts to understand emotions and relationships anymore. He wouldn’t be able to tease Yamato ever again. He would never see Naruto again. He would never again see the boy’s look of wonder when he listened to Kakashi tell some tale from his past. He would never again see the boy’s sunny smile, or hear his loud cheerful laugh. He would never again get to walk home with the sunny blond on Friday nights after having dinner with their team. Kakashi would never see the boy that he had grown to lo-

Kakashi would always cut that train of thought off the second the l word came into play. 

He didn’t really have the right to think of Naruto like that. Besides Naruto would never care for Kakashi in that way. Naruto’s weird behavior whenever Kakashi even hinted at likening the boy at a level that went any deeper then friends had made that abundantly clear. It was best to not think of the love subject at all. Most of the time it was easy enough to ignore those feelings. During the Hiruko Incident it had been a bit difficult to do so when the fact that he would be leaving Naruto behind forever was right there in his face, but that was easily overshadowed by the fact that it _wasn’t_ just Naruto he was leaving behind. He was leaving behind everyone he knew and cared about. He would never see the Konoha or his team again, and that alone was enough to fill his heart with sadness and keep his mind off of his silly crush that would go nowhere. Besides sadness at the fact that he would never be with his team again Kakashi had also felt guilt over the fact that he was leaving Naruto, Sakura, and Sai behind with no real goodbye. He could not even say goodbye to Yamato because he was off on a mission completely unaware of the drama happening at home. 

All Kakashi could do was leave behind some gifts for his teammates as an apology and with a hope that his team would understand why he did what he did. He left behind a book on the inner workings of friendships and relationships for Sai. He hoped it would help Sai in his endeavor to understand human relationships. To Sakura he left behind a book on making the military rations pills and medical supplies. He hoped that maybe the book would help the girl improve her skills in making ration pills. They were pretty awful tasting to the point that Sai had labeled them mud balls. Somehow even calling them mud balls wasn’t enough to get across just how bad the pills tasted they were that bad. If the book was somehow able to even slightly improve her skills in ration pill making Kakashi would consider it a victory. Kakashi had left a note in Yamato’s house telling the man that he would receive Kakashi’s book and scroll collection. He might not exactly appreciate the Icha Icha collection, but the scrolls on various advanced jutsu techniques that Kakashi had picked up over the years would probably be appreciated. 

As for Naruto Kakashi left him the bells that he had used during Naruto’s genin test, and then used again during the test that Kakashi had given Naruto and Sakura after Naruto had returned from his training trip. It had also been the very same bells that Minato-sensei had used on Kakashi and his team back when they were young and still learning to be great shinobi. Kakashi’s number one lesson always seemed to resonate the most with Naruto, so it only made sense that the blond to receive the bells that were tied so deeply to the lesson of teamwork and abandoning your friends. Who knows? Maybe one day when Naruto was a jōnin and had a team of young genin of his own to teach he would use those bells to pass on the teamwork lesson to the next generation. Kakashi liked to think that was something that Naruto would do at any rate. 

Of course Kakashi had never told Naruto the real reason why he had given him the bells. Kakashi couldn’t really tell Naruto the real reason. If Naruto even got the slightest hint at the fact that Kakashi was going to sacrifice himself for the good of the village the blond would probably have a fit of epic proportions before doing his damn best to make sure that Kakashi didn’t go anywhere. As much as it pained him to leave without saying anything Kakashi knew his team well enough to know that they wouldn’t let him go without a fight. They would be upset once they learned just why Kakashi left, but at the time Kakashi truly thought there was no other option.

At the time he tried to counsel himself with the thought that his team would be alright without him. Naruto and Sakura had grown a lot since they were young Academy graduates. They were both young adults now. Sakura was growing to become a skilled medic that could one day give Tsunade a run for her money. As for Naruto he seemed to be growing stronger and stronger with each passing day, and there was no doubt in Kakashi’s mind that the boy would one day achieve his dream of becoming Hokage. Sai had grown a lot from his first day as Root operative into a teammate that could be trusted. They didn’t really need Kakashi. Besides Yamato would watch over the team for Kakashi. Kakashi trusted the man to keep them safe.

Right up to the moment that Hiruko Puppet Jutsu kicked in and Kakashi lost control of his mind and body he tried to assure himself that his team would understand. He tried to assure himself that Naruto would understand, and forgive him for what he had to do. He didn’t succeed. Every time he tried to think that a little voice in his head would make damn sure that he wasn’t allowed to find any comfort in that thought.

**_‘Do you really think Naruto would get over it?’_ ** His inner voice asked. _**‘Do you really think he will ever be alright with you sacrificing yourself like this?’**_

_‘He’ll get over it eventually. He’ll survive.’_ Kakashi tried to reassure himself.

 **_‘Like how you got over Obito? And Rin? And Minato-sensei and Kushina? And your father?’_** That little voice in his head that refused to let Kakashi pretend that everything would be fine asked. 

Kakashi had only flinched at that thought. Much as the gray haired man wanted to pretend that Naruto would be fine with his death deep down Kakashi knew better. Naruto took the death of a friend hard. It was a trait that he and Kakashi shared although unlike Kakashi Naruto would not be guilty for the death of his teammate. Not that it really mattered a whole lot. The loss of a friend and teammate hurt like hell no matter how it happened. Naruto tended to feel guilt anytime something bad happened to a friend. Naruto wouldn’t handle Kakashi’s death well, but what else could be done?

At the time it seemed like the only way they could beat Hiruko was by sacrificing Kakashi. So to keep his village and Naruto safe Kakashi allowed himself to be sacrificed. There was nothing else that could be done although that thought did nothing to ease Kakashi’s guilt about leaving everyone behind. He didn’t think he could feel even guiltier, but he ended up being wrong. His guilt could get worse. When the Puppet jutsu on him had been broken Kakashi woke up to the sight of Naruto crying over his body and looking like the world itself had come to an end. Kakashi had never seen Naruto look so defeated. 

It hurt to know that he was the one who hurt Naruto so badly.

Luckily, Kakashi wasn’t left watching Naruto’s pain for long. The second the boy saw that Kakashi was alive and in control of himself once again the boy instantly turned into an energetic ball of sunshine. He started babbling over the fact that he was so happy that Kakashi was alive and that he had fixed the bells for Kakashi and brought them along with him to return them to the silver haired man. There had been a tiny bit of annoyance at the fact that Naruto had pretty much ruined the only plan that they had to defeat Hiruko once and for all by saving Kakashi, but honestly that only lasted a few seconds at most. Much as he wouldn’t admit it at the time he was happy to see Naruto again. He was happy that Sai and Sakura had come with him. Sai, Sakura, and Naruto had come to save him. They would not let Kakashi sacrifice himself without giving Hiruko a hell of a fight first. They had come to save him even though it probably seemed like the whole world was trying to stop them, and the whole time they were fighting to save him they were shouting Kakashi’s lesson to anyone who dared to challenge them. 

_Those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum._

Kakashi felt proud at the fact that his number one rule had resonated so deeply with his students. It was clear that they took Obito’s old words of wisdom to heart. They would not abandon Kakashi. Maybe it would have been easier to just let Kakashi go to his death in order to beat Hiruko, but his team never went with the easy route. Kakashi’s pride in his team only grew when Naruto did the impossible and beat the seemingly unbeatable Hiruko. He had been able to save the day and no one from their village had to die to achieve that victory.

“We shouldn’t sacrifice our friends to save our own skins just because it is easy sensei,” Naruto had said during their trip back to the village. “I don’t want to live in a village where we would sacrifice people just because it is the easy solution.”

Upon hearing that Kakashi couldn’t help but feel a wave of affection for the boy wash over him. Naruto really had grown to become an incredible man. It was hard not to feel affection for the cheery blond when he said things like that. Of course that affection was immediately followed by a feeling of hurt. Thinking of his affection for Naruto made him also think of how Naruto reacted when the very idea of Kakashi likening him in a way that went deeper than that of friendship was brought up. During the short period after Hiruko was dead and gone everyone was catching their breaths Naruto had handed Kakashi the bells. Naruto had a soft smile on his face as the wind ruffled his bright blond hair. Eyes as blue as a clear sky gazed at him in relief and happiness. The boy was the very picture of peace at that moment. It was like all fears and worries had vanished, and for that one brief moment it was just Naruto and Kakashi. Of course that one wonderful moment was smashed to smithereens when everyone around them started making some interesting comments. 

_The book says that over time, when two parties both feel their hearts pounding, it can lead to love…_

_I always expected that something like that was going on…_

Kakashi knew exactly what they were implying although for the life of him he couldn’t figure out why they were saying such things. They sounded so dead serious about it that he really couldn’t tell if they were joking, or if they actually did think something was going on between him and the blond. Kakashi wished it was true. He really did, but he knew better. Kakashi didn’t deserve to have Naruto’s affections.

Besides Naruto would never love him in that way.

In the end Naruto was pretty quick to make it very clear to their friends that he would never love Kakashi in that way. Upon hearing their friend’s words Naruto just seemed to shut down for a moment. and then once the boy’s brain seemed to turn back on he promptly ran away from them all like his life depended on it. That reaction alone seemed to prove that there was no truth to their friend’s words. Seeing Naruto’s reaction hurt to the point that it almost felt like someone had stabbed him in the heart with a kunai. Still, Kakashi pushed the pain away and pursued the boy. It took a while, but eventually Kakashi was able to calm him down with promises that their friends were just joking. He wasn’t sure how true that was, but no one bothered to say otherwise.

By the time Naruto was calmed down Kakashi was more than ready to just shove his feelings back into the dark corner of his mind and put the whole event behind him. When they had finally returned home Kakashi tried his damn best to move on. He was alive and with his team again. His feelings for Naruto were shoved back into a box and pushed to the back of his mind to be ignored once again. The village was safe. There was nothing to worry about anymore. Everything could just go back to normal now. However, trying to put it all behind him just proved to be easier said than done for Kakashi. Just hearing about the event or thinking about the event for even a second would open up the floodgates of emotions for Kakashi.

Fear.

Sadness.

Guilt.

Pride.

Affection.

Hurt and rejection.

All of these emotions would wash over him the second he even thought of the incident, and every single one of those emotions would bring an onslaught of memories and thoughts that were connected to them. Naruto had to be in the same boat as Kakashi. There was no doubt in Kakashi’s mind that when the incident was brought up Naruto was probably hit with his own whirlwind of emotions. The incident had to be stressful for the boy for many reasons. He almost lost a teammate, he had to fight against his own friends to rescue his teammate, he had to fight against Gaara, he had to deal with the fact that he could end up in serious trouble for going against orders by chasing after Kakashi, and he had to live with the knowledge that his village had been close to the edge of total destruction. 

While the event was long over and everything was fine that didn’t erase what happened. The emotions and stress from the event was a lot to work through. With all that said was it really so surprising that it was probably taking Naruto a while to process everything that happened? The answer to that question was of course no. It would be no surprise at all if it took Naruto a few days to work through it all. Chances were high that if Kakashi just waited for a while Naruto would bounce back from it all and be back to his usual sunny self in a week or so. Still, Kakashi didn’t like the idea of just sitting back and letting Naruto work through it all alone. Yet, what could he really do? Kakashi wasn’t exactly the best at helping people work through their emotions. 

He had enough trouble working through his own emotions never mind trying to help others.

Still, Kakashi couldn’t leave it alone. He didn’t like the idea of not even trying to help Naruto. Maybe Kakashi could not do much, but he at least wanted the blond to know that Kakashi would always be there to listen if Naruto needed him no matter what. So Kakashi tried his best to come up with something that he could do to help Naruto. By the time Friday rolled in Kakashi had a tentative plan in place. They had a team dinner that night, and they would be going to going to Ichiraku. Kakashi planned to ask the boy if he was alright and if he wanted to talk about the Hiruko Incident once the rest of their team had left to go home. He would make it clear that he was willing to listen, but he wouldn’t push the boy to talk. He wanted Naruto to talk to him only when he was ready to talk. Maybe it wasn’t the best plan, but it was better than doing nothing.

With a somewhat solid plan in mind Kakashi had gone through his Friday without much worries. He picked up a D-Rank mission for his team that looked like it would take up most of the day and give a good enough pay for all the work. Then he went to the Memorial Stone and updated Obito, Rin, Minato, and Kushina on what was going on just like he did every day. After an hour or so at the Memorial Stone he finally said good bye to his loved ones for now and finally made his way to the training field that his team had unofficially claimed as their own.

When he got there the sight at the training field was a familiar one. Sakura was pacing about like a caged animal just waiting to be set free. A look of annoyance was on her face and Kakashi knew that he was the cause of it. Honestly, when she got like that Kakashi couldn’t help but be reminded of the days when Team Minato had to wait for Obito to finally show up. Kakashi never paced about like Sakura did, but the scowl she was wearing may as well have been an exact copy of the scowl that Kakashi would wear when his annoyance at his chronically late teammate hit its absolute peek.

_‘Sometimes she really reminds me of what I used to be like,’_ Kakashi thought with the slightest bit of fondness.

The girl had about just as much patience as Kakashi did when he was young and still on Team Minato. Turning his attention away from the pink haired girl he looked at the two boys who were lounging underneath the shade of a nearby tree. Sai was sitting under a tree sketching in his book. Occasionally the boy would look up to study Sakura for a few seconds before he would turn his attention back to his book and continue sketching. 

_‘Must be drawing Sakura,’_ The man thought. _‘I should ask Sai to show me what he has sketched lately. It’s been a while since I flipped through his sketchbook.’_

His gaze drifted from Sai over to Naruto. Surprisingly, the blond seemed a bit more relaxed today. He looked lost thought in, but he didn’t look as tense about it. Kakashi hoped that was a good sign. As he approached he heard the familiar ‘you’re late!’ being shouted at him by his two old students. Naruto sounded amused while saying it while Sakura sounded a bit more annoyed. Of course that familiar greeting was met with one of Kakashi’s excuses. 

“Sorry,” He said without even meaning it. “I just got lost on the road of life.” 

With those words spoken an easy teasing mood fell upon him and his team, and for a few minutes Kakashi thought that maybe today would be a good easy day and that maybe Naruto wouldn’t have any trouble today. 

Of course that went flying out the window when he heard Naruto say “What are you doing?” 

Kakashi looked over at the boy just in time to see Naruto shoving Sai’s hand off of his forehead. For some reason Naruto looked rather flushed to the point that it was actually a little worrying.

“You started turning red rather suddenly like you had a fever,” Kakashi heard Sai say.

Sai had said more than that, but honestly Kakashi hadn’t really registered anything beyond the word fever. Sakura of course had jumped into medic mode the second she heard the word fever. When she mentioned that he did feel a bit hot Kakashi felt a twinge of concern for the blue eyed boy run through him. That concern did not disappear when Naruto assured them that he was fine. The team had let it slide although Kakashi was quick to notice that no one really seemed really willing to let it go. During the walk to the mission location they all joked and teased each other as they normally would, but Kakashi didn’t miss the fact that both Sakura and Sai were periodically shooting Naruto concerned looks. Kakashi didn’t judge them for it. Kakashi was doing the exact same thing. Naruto seemed oblivious to the fact that his teammates were giving him the occasional worried glance. He just joked, smiled, and laughed like he usually did. He really didn’t seem to be sick. He was as energetic as usual, and that red flush of his seemed to have faded away.

Still, Kakashi could not rid himself of his worry. That’s not to say that he didn’t try. Upon getting to the mission location Kakashi left it up to Sai, Sakura, and Naruto to figure out how to divide the chores between them while he parked himself on a low hanging branch of a tree that would provide him plenty of shade. He had dug through his pack and pulled out his Icha Icha Paradise book. He had Icha Icha Tactics and Icha Icha Violence with him, but he automatically went for the Paradise book. Tactics was a fantastic book full of intrigue and full of interesting drama while Violence was filled to the brim with action. However, while those books were amazing Icha Icha Paradise would always be his favorite. It wasn’t as dramatic as Tactics nor was it as action filled as Violence. There were no questions of ‘will they or won’t they’. Paradise was a story of an already established couple figuring out how to navigate a relationship together. What the book lacked in drama it made up for with great humor, touching moments between the couple, and great well developed characters.

The sex scenes were also topnotch. 

Whenever Kakashi was troubled he would pull out Icha Icha Paradise and get lost in a world where the only thing that mattered was watching a two people fall deeper and deeper in love with each other witch each passing day. Usually Icha Icha Paradise was enough to keep his mind off things, and at first it did. Kakashi was easily able to get himself lost in the familiar love story of Tōshirō and Ichigo, but his mind refused to stay lost in that story. Without even really meaning to his eyes would move away from the book in front of him and immediately seek out Naruto. Every time he looked up at Naruto the boy was always looking straight at Kakashi. The second Naruto noticed that Kakashi was looking at him he would avert his gaze and look back at his task at hand. Kakashi would watch the boy while he worked. He was working rather diligently and he didn’t seem to be having any issues with the rather physically demanding tasks. If anything that seemed to prove that he was physically fine. He would even occasionally call out to Sai and Sakura to ask if they were doing alright while never once saying anything about having any issues, so he seemed to be doing fine. Still, Kakashi noticed that the boy’s face was all red again.

_‘Could just be because of having to work in the heat,’_ Kakashi thought. 

It was very hot that day. Even with him sitting in the shade Kakashi could still feel the heat. It was bad enough that when a breeze would start to blow Kakashi would try and enjoy the brief relief from the heat for as long as it lasted. If it was that bad in the shade it had to be awful working physically demanding jobs out in the sun. A quick glance over at Sakura and Sai showed that Naruto wasn’t exactly alone in his suffering. Sakura had already worked up a sweat while chopping away at some dead ivy that was stubbornly clinging to a decorative garden statue. Meanwhile, Sai was in one of the flower beds smiling his empty smile all while yet body language suggested that he was completely miserable. Silently Kakashi hoped Sai put some sunscreen on before he went out today because Sai would probably be a sunburned mess if he didn’t. Honestly, compared to the others Naruto seemed to be doing a bit better in the heat. 

_‘He’s fine,’_ Kakashi told himself as he turned his attention back to his book. _‘There is nothing to worry about.’_

Of course once ten minutes had passed Kakashi would find himself slowly moving his eyes away from his book to check on Naruto and make sure that the blond was alright. Each time he did Naruto would be looking at him only to quickly look away the second Kakashi’s eye landed on him. This went on for a couple hours. Every ten minutes or so Kakashi would check on Naruto only to have the boy look away and try to avoid looking at Kakashi. Each time Kakashi checked on him the boy seemed more and more lost in thought. He didn’t seem confused anymore, but he did seem more distracted. Even lost in thought Naruto went about doing his work with no issues, so Kakashi never called out to Naruto to ask what just what the blond was thinking about although he really wanted to. Eventually once lunchtime started to roll in Kakashi closed his book and slipped it into his weapon pouch. He hoped out of the tree and looked over at his students. Naruto was still mowing the lawn although it looked like he was close to being finished with that task. Sakura had finished her work getting rid of all the dead vines and branches and had moved on to help Sai start planting flowers into the now cleaned out flowerbeds.

“Alright, I’m going to get lunch,” Kakashi called out to his team.

A smile quickly appeared on Sakura’s face upon hearing that. Even Sai seemed to look rather happy at the idea of food. Strangely, Naruto didn’t seem to respond to the news at all. He just kept on working at his task without even glancing up to look at Kakashi. Sakura's smile faded slightly when she saw the blond's lack of reaction. Like Kakashi she was quick to notice that Naruto was acting a bit strange.

“You aren’t getting ramen, right?” Sakura asked. “It’s Friday so we are probably getting Ichiraku tonight so I don’t want ramen for lunch too. I can’t eat ramen for lunch and dinner.”

Kakashi glanced over at Naruto after Sakura said that. That comment had been said solely to get a response from Naruto and honestly Kakashi had thought it would do its job at getting Naruto's attention. Just saying the word ramen was usually enough to grab the boy's attention. Kakashi truly was expecting Naruto to immediately comment that having ramen for lunch and dinner was perfectly fine or something along those lines. However, the boy said nothing. Naruto was completely was silent. He seemed lost in thought and so focused on his task that he wasn’t even paying attention to their conversation. Sai and Sakura shot Kakashi a concerned look while Kakashi just shook his head. He had no idea what was up with Naruto, but he was definitely going to be asking tonight once it was just him and Naruto at Ichiraku. For now, though he wasn’t going to comment on it. He wasn’t even sure if Naruto would really be willing to share whatever it was that was troubling him with so many of his friends around. The blond never liked worrying his friends, and there was a chance that whatever it was that was troubling him was something that he didn’t want a lot of people to know. He would probably be more willing to confide in one person while eating his favorite food. It was a little frustrating, but for now there wasn't much that the gray haired man could do.

For now all Kakashi could do was give Sakura and Sai a reassuring look as he promised “Lunch will just be a surprise. I’ll be back soon as I can. Keep an eye on our favorite hyperactive blond while I’m gone OK?” 

Sakura nodded while Sai kept his gaze glued onto Naruto apparently already dedicated to the task that Kakashi had given. With a single wave goodbye Kakashi wasted no time in getting out if there and off to somewhere that he could get food fast. He didn’t even pull out one of his books to read while he moved. He wanted to get the food and get back as soon as he could. He had popped into the first bento store that he spotted, grabbed a basket, and started scanning the shelves for whatever he could bring back quickly. He wasn’t really thinking much as scanned the shelves. His mind was mostly preoccupied with Naruto, but somehow his mind was still able to remember his team’s favorite foods. 

Upon spotting a few things made with momen tofu he instantly thought _‘Sai likes dishes with momen tofu in it.’_

Without even thinking much about it Kakashi shoved about three different tofu dishes into his shopping basket. He grabbed a bunch of onigiri all while making sure to grab a few umeboshi onigiri specifically for Sakura. He must have been in a generous mood that day because he even grabbed a few containers of anmitsu just for Sakura. After grabbing a few bottles of water Kakashi was willing to just leave. The store didn’t sell any ramen, and with how weird Naruto was acting today Kakashi didn’t exactly want to waste any time getting all the way to Ichiraku and back again. Naruto would be fine with onigiri and the tofu dishes Kakashi grabbed. As long as a dish didn’t have too many vegetables in it the boy was usually fine with whatever. Kakashi would be buying the boy a bowl of ramen to make up for no ramen for lunch at dinner tonight anyway. 

With a slight shrug of his shoulders Kakashi started to make his way to the cashier to check out and leave, but right when he was almost at the checkout counter he came across a bunch of freshly prepared red bean soup. When he had seen it he couldn’t help but stop and stare at it for a moment. As he stared at the containers he couldn’t help but remember something that Naruto had told him months ago. It had been a quick comment made by Naruto when they went to some restaurant that Yamato had begged to go to. The restaurant had been a bit more upscale then the places that they usually went to, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. The food had been rather nice, but the food was not what came to mind when Kakashi thought of that night. What he remembered was how Naruto’s face lit up when he saw that the restaurant had red bean soup. 

_“They have red bean soup!”_

_“You sound rather excited by that,” Yamato had commented as he smiled at the boy._

_“Of course I am. Red bean soup is just as good as ramen!”_

 

Kakashi had been surprised to hear that comment, but later on when Naruto got his red bean soup and started eating the food it became very clear that the boy had been telling the truth when he said he liked it a lot. He was rather excited about eating it just like how he was when he ate ramen. However, his excitement was more relaxed. When he ate the red bean soup he had a soft smile on his face like he was thinking of some pleasant memory. It was probably one of the very few rare times where Kakashi had seen Naruto look so relaxed and calm. Upon remembering that Kakashi was pulling out the biggest container of red bean soup he could find. It probably wouldn’t help at all with whatever was troubling Naruto, but if it could put a smile on the boy’s face it was worth getting. 

The second Kakashi had paid for the food and drinks he was rushing off back to the mission location. When he got back he wasn’t overly happy with what he saw. Naruto had finished mowing the backyard and now he was working on cleaning out the river that ran through the garden. Sadly moving on from one chore to another seemed to have done nothing to pull Naruto out of his head. Naruto was off in his own little world, and it seemed like nothing good was going on in his little world if the slightly pained expression on his face was anything to go by. Sakura and Sai were openly staring at Naruto in concern although the boy seemed rather oblivious to the looks that he was currently getting. They only glanced at Kakashi for a moment before they turned their attention back to Naruto. Kakashi dumped his bags off at the base of large tree in the garden before he approached Sakura.

“Has he been like that the whole time I have been gone?” Kakashi asked the girl. 

“Yep,” Sakura answered. “He hasn’t said a word the whole time you have been gone. Hasn’t even looked up from his work even once."

“What’s wrong with him?” Sai asked. “I have never seen him so subdued before.” 

“I haven’t seen him like this very often, but when he is like this it is because of a good reason.” Kakashi said as he started to approach Naruto. “Go on and sit under the tree I’ll go get Naruto.” 

They did as they were told although he noticed that they didn’t touch the bags. They watched the man as he approached Naruto is silence. 

“Naruto I got lunch.” 

The boy didn’t respond. He was just staring down at water completely unaware of Kakashi presence.

“Naruto?” He called out a bit louder.

Again he got no response.

“Naruto?” Kakashi called out. “Naruto seriously if you don’t answer me I’ll use a water jutsu on you.” 

Naruto still didn’t answer. Kakashi could see Naruto tighten his grip on the pool net that he was holding. His grip on the thing was so tight that Kakashi was surprised that the plastic wasn’t cracking in his grip.

 _‘Alright, this is getting us nowhere.’_ The man thought. 

He had no idea what Naruto was thinking about, but it was clear that it wasn’t anything good. He needed to snap the boy out of it now. Kakashi quickly did the needed hand signs for the water jutsu that was needed, and he made sure to use as little chakra as he possibly could so that it wouldn’t cause too much damage. He wanted to snap Naruto out of it he didn’t want to actually hurt the blond. 

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Suiton: Suijinheki no Jutsu!”

A small dragon made of water immediately sprang forth from the river and silently made its way toward Naruto. Upon hitting Naruto, the boy fell backward into the river. Naruto floundered around in the water as he tried to get back onto his feet. It was pretty comical to watch although the humor faded a bit when Naruto’s splashing ended up hitting him. The water was a little refreshing, but the wet clothes were less then pleasant. When Naruto finally found his footing he whirled around and gave Kakashi a look of pure irritation.

“Well, that got your attention,” Kakashi said as he stared at the boy. 

Those words just seemed to anger the boy more because immediately after hearing that Naruto yelled out “What did you do that for?! If you wanted my attention you could have just called my name!”

“Naruto I called your name three times,” Kakashi informed the boy. “You didn’t respond even once.” 

Upon hearing that all of Naruto’s irritation just drained away. He blinked a few times in surprise upon hearing that as he just stared at Naruto in silence.

“He did warn you,” Sakura confirmed. “Told you he was going to use a water jutsu and everything.”

Naruto just looked surprised upon hearing that.

 _‘He really didn’t hear any of our talk about getting lunch,’_ Kakashi thought.

“I got lunch,” Kakashi said. “Do you remember me telling you that I was going out to get food, or did you miss that too?” 

The blush that immediately stained Naruto’s cheeks that was also accompanied by an embarrassed look was the only answer that Kakashi needed.

 _‘Naruto, just what is it that is bothering you?’_ Kakashi wanted to ask. 

The question was right there on the tip of his tongue just begging to be asked.

Somehow he was able to choke back the question in favor of saying “I was nice enough to bring you all lunch, and you repay my kindness by splashing me with about a gallon of water. Some thanks that I got.” 

That seemed to put Naruto at ease. The boy climbed out of the river and started to make his way over to his other teammates all while complaining that Kakashi could have avoided the water if he really wanted to. Kakashi followed after him only pausing for a moment to take his soaking wet shirt and vest off to dry off in the sun alongside the wet jacket that Naruto had taken off and left on the ground to dry. His team started to lightly tease each other as they slowly pulled the food out of the bags. Sai and Sakura got rather excited upon seeing their favorite foods and while Kakashi was happy to see them happy he couldn’t really focus on that as much as he wanted. He was still worried about Naruto. The boy was acting normal now, but that was only because his team was actively keeping him in a conversation. If Naruto wasn’t busy talking would he get lost in his head again? Kakashi really didn't know, but his gut feeling was that Naruto probably would just get lost in his own thoughts.

 _‘Should I ask him if he is alright?’_ Kakashi wondered. _‘He might brush the question off.’_

In fact, he probably would brush the question off, but honestly Kakashi was not willing to let this go. He just wanted to say screw it and ask the boy what it was that was bothering him so much. 

_‘Remember the plan, Kakashi. You are going to talk about whatever is bothering him tonight when you go out for ramen. He will probably be more willing to talk about it when it is just you and him.’_ Kakashi thought as he pushed the bag containing the red bean soup over to the boy. 

Kakashi was a bit displeased at the thought of having to wait so long for an answer, but that displeasure faded away when Naruto opened the bag and glanced inside only to happily cry out “You got red bean soup!”

“I remember you saying that you liked that stuff once, so I got it for you.” Kakashi said with a slight shrug of his shoulders.

Naruto looked a bit surprised that Kakashi remembered such a thing, but that surprise was suddenly replaced by a soft look. A small gentle smile appeared on the boy’s face as he stared at Kakashi with gentle blue eyes. He was looking at Kakashi with a look that could only be described as one of pure fondness. That look made Kakashi want to squirm a little in his seat. It was not a look that he had ever gotten from anyone before much less Naruto, so he really wasn’t used to it and wasn’t too sure how to react to it. Yet, at the same time being on the receiving end of such a look caused a spark of joy to light up in him. Kakashi was the one who caused that look. Kakashi was the one who made Naruto so happy. Knowing that just made the man happy. Kakashi would do anything to keep making Naruto look that happy.

Of course right when Kakashi thought that the happy little moment was shattered. 

“Kakashi-sensei you’re…” Naruto said softly only to trail off.

Then without any sort of warning Naruto started coughing. It wasn’t a slight cough or a small string of coughs. No, these were hard harsh coughs that caused Naruto’s whole entire body to shake with each cough. It honestly sounded like he was about to hack out a lung. Bad enough on its own, but that wasn’t the worst part of Naruto’s sudden coughing fit. No, the horrifying thing was the fact that each time Naruto coughed a few small white flower petals would fall from his lips. Naruto was quick to cover his mouth, but even that wasn’t enough to stop the flow of white petals. Kakashi could still see flower petals slip through Naruto’s fingers and fall onto his lap.

_‘Why is he coughing up flower petals?’_ A tiny voice in his mind screamed out. 

That was a question that would go unanswered. Kakashi had never seen something like this before in his long career as a shinobi. This was uncharted territory for him. Kakashi called out Naruto’s name as he placed a hand on the boy’s back and rubbed it in some vain attempt at comforting Naruto. He had no idea if it was actually helping. Right now Naruto looked like he was using all of his strength just to keep himself sitting up. Kakashi was dimly aware of hearing Sai murmur something, but he honestly couldn’t bring himself to pay much attention to what the dark eyed boy said. All of his attention was focused solely on Naruto.

“Sakura, what is wrong with him?” Kakashi asked as he kept his eyes glued onto Naruto. “Have you ever seen something like this in your medical books?” 

A cold chill washed over him when he heard Sakura say “I-I don’t know what is wrong with him. I never seen someone cough up something like that before, and I never read of such a thing happening in any of my medical books.”

That was not good. Sakura was the student of the great medical-nin Tsunade. Sakura would read obscure medical texts for fun. If Sakura of all people had no idea what was going on they really were in uncharted territory. That also meant that none of them knew what to do. Kakashi mentally struggled on just what he should do. Should be rush Naruto to a hospital? Should he take Naruto to Tsunade? Could Kakashi even pick Naruto up when he was like this? Would picking up while he was coughing up flower petals make things worse? He didn’t know. While Kakashi mentally struggled with what to do Naruto’s coughing slowly came to a stop. When the boy finally stopped they all stood there in silence unsure of what to do or say. Even Naruto seemed frozen in place for a few seconds. However, eventually the boy moved his hands away from his mouth. When he did Kakashi was quick to see that his hands were full with flower petals. However, even worse than that was the fact that lying there on top of those petals was a single white flower.

Naruto hadn’t just coughed up flowers petals. Naruto had coughed up a whole damn flower. 

“Naruto?” Kakashi called out softly. 

Naruto looked over at Kakashi with wide blue eyes. The boy looked as confused and worried as Kakashi was feeling at that very moment. It was clear to Kakashi that the boy was just as clueless as the rest of them.

“Naruto?” Sakura called out. 

The boy looked over at the girl only to have her ask “Naruto why are you coughing up flowers?” 

Kakashi really didn’t know how the boy would answer that question. The look on his face made it pretty clear that Naruto had no real answer to give. Still, Kakashi expected Naruto to say that he had no idea, or that he was just as worried about this as the rest of them were.

What he did not expect was for Naruto to say “If you want to get technical it’s actually a gardenia.”

It took all of Kakashi’s willpower to not let out a loud sigh upon hearing that. Leave it to the number one hyperactive knucklehead to identify a flower rather than say anything about the fact that he just coughed up a flower. Sakura blinked a few times before a look of absolute anger crossed her face. 

“Who cares what sort of flower it is!” She shouted. “What I want to know is why you just started coughing up flowers!” 

Naruto frowned and then said yet another thing that Kakashi wasn’t expecting.

“Actually I think this is my second time coughing up flower petals today. I had a coughing fit right before you guys showed up and I think I coughed up a few red carnation petals.”

“And you didn’t say anything about it?!” Sakura screeched.

“Hey, get off my back! I didn’t cough up a full flower then, and I didn’t cough up a handful of petals either! There were only like five petals at most! I thought the petals were just from the carnation flowers that grew there.” 

That comment was rather alarming. If what Naruto was saying was true, then that seriously implied that his condition had gotten much worse in just a few hours. He went from coughing up only a few petals to coughing up a full on flower along with a rather alarming number of petals. Kakashi was up on his feet and pulling his shirt and vest back on within a matter of seconds. His clothes were still a little damp, but that didn’t matter. They needed to go to Tsunade now. Kakashi chucked Naruto’s jacket at the boy and ignored Naruto’s squawk of surprise when the jacket smacked him in the face in order to look at Sai and Sakura.

“Sai? Sakura? Can you carry the food bags? We are going straight to Tsunade.” 

Sai and Sakura nodded as they immediately packed up what few food items had been pulled out of their bags.

“Naruto, keep a grip on the flower and petals alright? We need to show them to Tusnade-sama.”

“OK,” Naruto said. 

The boy looked like he was going to say more, but whatever he was going to say was cut short when Kakashi picked him up and held him bridal style in his arms. Naruto immediately started to wiggle around in his grip. “Kakashi-sensei! I don’t have to be carried there!”

“Just humor me OK?” Kakashi said as he looked down at the boy. Naruto looked up at him with those cornflower blue eyes of his while Kakashi just stared back at him with his lone black eye.

_‘Please,’_ Kakashi silently begged. _‘Don’t argue with me about this.’_

Chances are Naruto could probably handle the trip to the Hokage’s office, but honestly Kakashi didn’t want to risk it. If the carnation thing was true, then it was clear that Naruto’s condition had grown worse in only a few short hours. There was also a chance that the cause of his worsening condition was due to all of the physical activity Naruto had done today. Maybe it wasn’t due to that, but honestly Kakashi wasn’t willing to push their luck. It was just better if he carried the boy there so that he wouldn’t physically exert himself anymore. Thankfully, Kakashi didn’t have to argue with the boy about it. Naruto must have seen just how important this was to Kakashi because the boy eventually stopped wiggling around and let out a soft sigh.

“Fine,” The boy muttered sulkily. “I’ll let you carry me there.” 

Kakashi said nothing to that. He just glanced back at Sakura and Sai. They both finished their tasks and had the bags full of food in their arms. They silently nodded at him to tell him that they were ready to go, and upon seeing that Kakashi was off like a shot. Kakashi was barely paying much attention to what was going on around him as he rushed off towards his destination. He didn’t even glance back to make sure that Sai and Sakura were keeping up with him. He just kept running forward as quickly as he could. When he was about halfway to their destination he could feel Naruto start to tremble a little in his arms. Kakashi didn’t dare stop moving, but he did glance down at the man in his arms.

“Naruto? Are you alright?” 

Naruto was silent for a moment before he slowly said “Whenever I’m about to cough up flowers I get this tickling feeling in my throat.”

“Are you getting that feeling now?”

Naruto only nodded before he asked “Kakashi what is wrong with me.”

“I don’t know,” Kakashi answered honestly. “But I promise you that we will figure this out. I won’t rest until we know what is wrong with you.” 

That earned Kakashi a small week smile. It was clear that Naruto was still worried, but Kakashi’s words were able to bring him some comfort. It wasn’t much but Kakashi was thankful that he was able to give Naruto at least a tiny bit of comfort. Upon reaching the Hokage Tower he didn’t even bother entering the building. He just went into the Hokage’s office through the window. As he entered the room he spotted Shikamaru in the room along with Tsunade and Shizune. He was probably breaking into the office during a mission briefing or something, but honestly he didn’t care. Whatever the hell it was that they were talking about could wait. 

As he entered the room Tsunade shot him an annoyed look, but the look was replaced by one of confusion. He couldn’t really blame her for looking confused. Kakashi was carrying Naruto in his arms while Naruto was holding a handful of flower petals. Sai and Sakura were stumbling in through the window with bags of food in their arms. They all had dead serious looks on their faces too. They probably looked pretty odd. Kakashi gently placed Naruto down on the ground. The boy was still trembling slightly, but it was so slight that Kakashi was probably the only one who really noticed it. Naruto glanced over at Kakashi only to have the man motion for the boy to dump the flowers onto Tsunade’s desk. He only nodded and promptly dropped the white flower petals down onto the desk along with the single gardenia flower. Tsunade looked at the flower for a moment only to glance over at the bags of food that Sakura and Sai were currently hauling around. 

The woman then looked over at Kakashi and asked “Alright, I’ll bite. What is with the strange lunch and flower delivery.” 

Kakashi opened his mouth to say that this was no joke only to clamp it shut when Sakura blurted out “Naruto’s coughing up flowers!”

No one said anything at first. Tsunade, Shikamaru, and Shizune just gave Kakashi’s group a blank look like they really didn’t know how to react to that bit of news. Tsunade’s lack of reaction was not what Kakashi was hoping for.

 _‘If she isn’t immediately reacting to that bit of news then it is probably safe to say that this isn’t something she has heard of before,’_ Kakashi thought. 

As if to confirm that thought Tsunade asked “Is this some weird joke that I’m not understanding?”

Kakashi could not help but mentally curse at that answer. If the world’s number one medic-nin didn’t know anything about this flower thing it would probably be an understatement to say that they were in trouble. In the end Kakashi didn’t have to inform the woman that this was no joke. Naruto ended up doing it for him. 

The boy looked her right in the eyes and said “We aren’t joking.”

A small wheezy cough escaped from his mouth and Kakashi watched as a few dark pink petals fell from Naruto's lips. 

As the pink petals fell to the floor Tsunade jumped to her feet and yelled out “Naruto!” 

Naruto could not reply to her cry. He was already being overtaken by a coughing fit. Kakashi immediately stepped forward and helped steady Naruto so he wouldn’t fall over. Naruto immediately clung to Kakashi for support as the petals continued to fall from his lips. The first time Kakashi saw Naruto cough up a few petals it had been disturbing, but thanks to Naruto immediately covering his mouth he had prevented his team from seeing the full horror of the thing. However, this time Naruto didn’t cover his mouth so everyone in the room got a front row seat to the horror show. It was chilling to watch the petals fall from his mouth in a never ending waterfall. Occasionally a complete flower would fall from his lips and hit the ground. Kakashi tightened his grip on Naruto and tried his best to count how many flowers fell from Naruto’s mouth.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

When the fourth flower fell from his mouth and hit the ground Naruto’s coughing finally came to a stop. Naruto didn’t seem to be in any pain at all. He just crinkled his nose in displeasure as he stared down at the petals that covered the floor. It honestly looked like someone had taken a bucket full of flower petals and dumped them onto the ground. Naruto had coughed up a lot more flower petals this time around which was not a good sign. The fact that he had coughed up more than one flower was even more concerning.

Naruto then looked up to look at everyone in the room. Kakashi did the same. He wasn’t exactly surprised by everyone’s reactions. Tsunade was standing there staring at Naruto with a look of absolute horror on her face. Sometime during the coughing fit she had grabbed the edge of her desk only to crack the wood in her strong grip. Shizune was standing as still as a statue next to the desk all while staring at Naruto with wide eyes. She was hugging Tonton so tightly to her chest Kakashi was a little afraid that the woman might end up breaking the poor pig’s ribs from hugging him so tightly. Shikamaru looked as horrified as the ladies did although unlike them he wasn’t completely frozen in shock. His eyes were constantly jumping between Naruto and the flowers that were lying on the floor. His mind was clearly going into overtime trying to figure out what just happened. Kakashi honestly wished the Nara boy luck on that particular endeavor because Kakashi still had yet to figure it out.

Naruto stared at Tsunade and said “Told you we were not lying.” 

Tsunade opened and closed her mouth like a dying fish unable to say a word. It was clear that she wanted to say something, but her mind could not come up with any words to say. If the situation wasn’t so serious Kakashi would have found her reaction rather comical. Eventually the slug Sannin found her voice because she looked at Kakashi and asked the one question that was on everyone’s mind. 

“What was that?”

Kakashi desperately wished he had an answer for her, but he didn’t. He had never seen something like this before. He couldn’t even make a guess as to what Naruto’s affliction was. All he could do was look his Hokage right in the eye and tell her what she didn’t want to hear.

“I don’t know. I really don’t know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Azalea Flower: Azalea flowers are supposed to be a way to tell someone to take care of themselves or to take care of their family. They can also be used to symbolize fragile or still developing passion, homesickness, abundance, and temperance.
> 
> On a darker note I have read that Azalea flowers can also be used to mean a death threat although I heard that they only mean this when they are in a black vase. 
> 
> Azalea flowers can come in many different colors although for this chapter I went with dark pink since flowers of that color are seen as a symbol of romance, love and passion.


	4. Orange and red pansy flowers

“I don’t know. I really don’t know.”

Those words seemed to echo around the office. No one said a word after Kakashi spoke nor did they even move. Everyone just stood there as they silently let Kakashi’s words sink in. Kakashi was still standing there with an arm wrapped around Naruto’s shoulders while Naruto kept a tight grip on Kakashi’s jōnin flak jacket. Naruto was pressed up against the man’s side, and the fact caused a small blush to start staining the boy’s cheeks although Naruto was quick to mentally smack himself before that thought could go much further.

_‘You just threw up a bunch of flower petals in front of the Hokage in her office. Now really isn’t the time to think of how your crush currently has his arm wrapped around you.’_

Naruto did his best to focus on the task at hand. It wasn’t hard to do. The second he pulled himself out of his mental thoughts Tsunade slopped back onto her chair which caused Naruto to focus his attention on her. He couldn’t help but flinch a bit at the look that she was currently giving him. She was looking at him like she expected him to just keel over right then and there. 

_**‘She’s probably scared that she is going to lose you to whatever this thing is that is effecting you,’**_ The darker part of his mind whispered. _**‘She probably thinks she is going to lose you like she has lost most of her other loved ones.’**_

That was not exactly a pleasant thought although Naruto could not blame her for being so worried. This was pretty much an unknown condition. No one knew what it meant, why he had it, or how much damage it could do to him in the long run. With so little knowledge who could blame Tsunade for being worried? Naruto was snapped out of his thoughts when he saw Tsunade yank open one of the draws of her desk and pull out a blank sheet of paper. She hastily snatched a pencil off of the desktop and wrote something down in the paper. When she looked back up all fear was gone only to be replaced by the serious look of a professional medic-nin. 

“When did this start?” She asked. 

“Today,” Naruto answered. “I coughed up a few red carnation petals this morning. It wasn’t a lot just a few petals. I didn’t even realize that the petals came from me.”

“Time?” “Around seven in the morning I think?” Naruto answered. 

He really wasn’t sure of the exact time. It’s not like he had a watch on him when he was out.

 _‘Was sort of too busy figuring out that I’m in love with Kakashi to pay attention to how much time had passed anyway.’_ Naruto thought. 

He didn’t bother voicing that fact out loud. “And the white flowers?”

“Gardenias,” Sakura, Sai, and Naruto corrected at the same time. 

“And the gardenias?” Tsunade asked again with the correction.

“About ten minutes ago,” Kakashi answered. 

Tsunade was silent as she wrote down what was said only to look up from her writing and ask “What are the pink flowers?”

Naruto glanced down at the flowers and blankly looked at them. Honestly, he had no idea and the blank looks on his teammates faces suggested that he had no idea what they were either. Luckily, they didn’t need to know. Someone else in the room already knew the answer.

“They are azalea flowers.”

Upon hearing that everyone looked at Shikamaru.

The Nara let out a loud sigh and said “When you have been teammates with Ino as long as I have you end up picking up knowledge on flowers rather you like it or not.”

Naruto was sure that he heard Sakura mutter something about being in that position before, but he stopped paying attention to the pink haired girl’s mumbling when Tsunade stared right at him.

“This started today, right? You haven’t felt ill or odd at all the past couple of days?” 

“I haven’t had any issues until today. I haven’t felt ill or anything.” Naruto frowned a little. “I don’t feel sick not even when I’m coughing up flowers. It doesn’t even hurt. At worse my throat hurts a little after coughing so hard for so long, but that is it.” 

The woman copied down what Naruto had said only to scowl slightly as she looked down at the paper.

“Your team has only been doing D-Rank missions for the past few days so you shouldn’t have dealt with anything dangerous,” The woman muttered to herself.

“We haven’t even left the village for any of our missions,” Sakura added.

Tsunade sighed as she ran a hand through her hair.

“Is it possible that whatever is affecting Naruto could be something that he got from the Hiruko Incident?” Shikamaru asked. 

From the corner of his eye Naruto could see Kakashi tense up slightly upon hearing that. His lone eye had widened a bit at that possibility and Naruto could see a frown forming under the fabric of his mask.

 _‘He’s not blaming himself for my condition is he?’_ Naruto thought. 

Of course right when he thought that he was immediately forced to acknowledge the fact that the man was probably blaming himself. He had a bad habit of doing that. Naruto felt his hand twitch slightly as the urge to just grab Kakashi’s hand hit him. Naruto wanted to do nothing more than grab the man’s hand and tell him that it wasn’t his fault. That even if he got this from the Hiruko Incident Kakashi was not to blame. Besides, even if this flower thing was due to Hiruko Naruto wouldn’t care. Naruto had no regrets about saving Kakashi. He would gladly make the exact same decision to save Kakashi even if he knew that the end result would be this weird flower disease. 

Whatever worries that there were about this being due to Hiruko immediately dissolved when Tsunade said “No, I seriously doubt that Hiruko is the cause. I did a full health check on Naruto when he returned home from that incident. He had a clean bill of health. There were no abnormalities detected in his chakra, and physically he was fine.”

The woman shook her head. “Besides none of the Kekkei Genkai users that Hiruko kidnapped had the ability to do this to their enemies. There was nothing in our files that we have on Hiruko that even suggested that the man could do something like this.” 

Naruto saw Kakashi relax ever so slightly upon hearing that. Of course he didn’t completely relax. Knowing that Hiruko probably wasn’t the source of his problem was good, but that still left them in the dark on just what his problem was.

“Shizune,” The Hokage said as she looked over at the woman. “I want you to take some samples of the gardenias and azalea flowers and bring them to our research team and bring some to the hospital staff who deals with special cases. If there is anything special about the flowers they can find it.”

“Of course!” Shizune said as she put Tonton down on the floor and proceeded to do as she was ordered. Upon being placed on the ground Tonton waddled over to Naruto and leaned up against the young man’s leg. 

“Oink,” The tiny pig squeaked out in the saddest tone that a pig could possibly muster.

Naruto gave the tiny pig a week smile as he knelt down and picked the tiny pig up. Tonton could not speak, but she was as smart as any summon. She knew that there was something seriously wrong with Naruto. As the boy knelt down to pick the small pig up he heard a drawer being opened and then promptly slammed shut. The blue eyed boy stood up just in time to see Tsunade fling something to Shikamaru.

“That key will give you access to the sealed library here in the tower. Dig out any books scrolls you see relating to plant related jutsus or anything else along those lines. I never heard of any plant related jutsu before that could do anything like this, but who knows? We might have some records on something like this somewhere in that dusty ol’ room.” The woman gave him a serious look. “Have Ino and Chōji help you.” 

She then glanced over at Sai and Sakura and said “I want you two to help Shikamaru on this job. I need you to go over those scrolls and books and bring me back anything that looks like it could help us figure out what is wrong with Naruto.”

“So just bring you scrolls and books that mention flowers? Or should we bring you anything involving plants?” Sai asked.

“Anything that mentions seals or jutsu involving flowers. Anything that involves jutsu or chakra in general being used to grow plants or to make plants grow in areas that they normally can’t be grown in. Go ahead and bring me any medical texts that mention any cases that sound even remotely similar to what is going on with Naruto.” The woman shrugged. “Even if there is nothing in those books that talk about whatever is going on with Naruto those books might have something in them that we can use to stop it.” 

Sai and Sakura nodded before they glanced over at Kakashi. They held the bags out slightly as if to ask _‘what should we do with these?’_

“Drop the bags off at your house Sakura. You live the closest to the Hokage Tower.” Kakashi said.

“Right,” Sakura said. “Ino is supposed to be working at her family’s flower shop today. We can drop by the store and pick her up while we are dropping the bags off.”

“I’ll take care of Chōji then,” Shikamaru said as he started to make his way toward the door.

Sai and Sakura were out the windows and racing off toward the pink haired girl’s house before Naruto could even blink. Once they were gone Tsunade folded up the piece of paper that she had been writing on and shoved it into her pocket. She sat up and started to make her way toward the door.

“Come on boys,” She said as she walked past them. “We are going to the hospital to give Naruto a very thorough checkup.” 

Naruto could not help but feel a bit nervous upon hearing that. What exactly did a thorough checkup entail? He didn’t know, but he figured it was not going to be fun. He let out a soft sigh before he placed Tonton down and gave the pig a farewell scratch behind the ear before he started to follow the Hokage.

“You need me there for that?” Kakashi asked as he followed after them. 

“I need you there for when I reveal the results,” The woman said in an even tone. “The results of my test will ultimately decide what I am going to have you do.”

Tsunade didn’t say anything beyond that, and Kakashi didn’t ask for anymore information. Naruto stayed silent as he followed closely behind her. He didn’t dare ask a question. He wouldn’t have really been able to focus on what she said. The only thing that Naruto could focus on was the growing pit of worry that had settled in his gut. He was really hoping that they could find out what his problem was and fix it after this checkup. However, something deep in Naruto’s gut told him that it would not be that easy…

\-----------------------------------------

Naruto knew that the checkup would suck, but he had no idea just how bad it would suck until the examination was underway. The amount of tests and scans that Naruto had to undergo was almost insane. Full body x-ray, chakra scans, CT scans, and many other tests were done on Naruto. Naruto didn’t enjoy being poked and prodded nor did he enjoy being dragged all over the hospital so that he could have all of these tests done. He was actually jealous of Kakashi. The silver haired man had been able to park himself in the waiting room and read while Naruto was run ragged. Naruto didn’t typically like just sitting somewhere and doing nothing, but he would much prefer that over all the tests that were being done on him. He honestly felt less like a patient and more like a test subject.

Naruto wasn’t really sure on just how much time had passed, but they must have been at it for at least a good hour or two. By the time the tests were over and Tsunade lead him and Kakashi to wait in an empty checkup room the only thing that Naruto was really positive about was the fact that he was starving and more than ready to leave the hospital.

Although, for as annoyed as he was he didn’t dare voice his annoyance out loud. Tsunade had been almost eerily silent during the whole process only speaking when she needed Naruto to do something, or to give him a quick explanation as to what they were going to do next. Other than that she was silent and completely absorbed with the task at hand. She was so fully into the role of serious doctor right now that it was almost scary. 

Usually when she gave him a checkup she would banter with him a bit, or the word brat would be said with just a bit of affection whenever Naruto would call her baa-chan or say something that caused her to roll her eyes in exasperated affection. She didn’t do that this time. Even when Naruto had called her baa-chan she hadn’t even reacted. Her lack of reaction caused Naruto to become silent as well. This was officially the worst checkup that Naruto had ever had. If she had at least spoken then maybe it would have been a bit bearable, but Tsunade’s eerie silence only served to put Naruto on edge.

By the time the checkups were over and Tsunade had left Naruto and Kakashi in an out of the way office Naruto was a jittery mess. He had trouble staying still normally, but that problem was made a hundred times worse after everything he just went through. Tsunade’s silence just meant that his mind was able to go into overdrive as it tried to figure out what was wrong with him.

Was this condition permanent? Would he be coughing up flowers for the rest of his days? Could he still be a ninja like this? Could he even become Hokage if he coughed up flowers at random intervals? 

Would this kill him? _Could_ this kill him?

He didn’t know, and it wasn’t like he could ask Kakashi. The man was just as clueless as him when it came to this. All Naruto could do was fidget about in the chair that Tsunade had dumped him in as his questions continued to fly around in his head screaming for answers that the blonde could not give. He tried to distract himself by looking at Kakashi. The man had been pretty good at distracting him today. However, that did little to calm him. If anything after watching the man for a few minutes he just started to feel more worried because it was becoming real clear to him that Kakashi was pretty much in the same boat as Naruto. 

He wasn’t wiggling around in his seat like Naruto was, but he was clearly lost in thought. Naruto had known Kakashi long enough that he had been able to pick up on all of the little signs that let him know that Kakashi was troubled. Kakashi had one of his books out and he was looking at it, but he wasn’t really reading it. Kakashi’s eyes were not moving at all, and his mouth wasn’t moving under the mask. The man had a tendency to silently mouth the words to himself whenever he really got into his book. He didn’t do it all the time, but he did it pretty often. Add on the fact that Kakashi hadn’t flipped a page yet and Naruto thought it was pretty safe to assume that Kakashi was just staring at the book lost in thought rather than reading the book. It probably helped that the book Kakashi had out was Icha Icha Violence which was Kakashi’s least favorite book out of the Icha Icha series. Naruto knew that Kakashi liked the book a lot, but if Kakashi really wanted to distract himself he wouldn’t choose that book to read. He would choose Icha Icha Paradise or Tactics if he really wanted to distract himself. 

“You aren’t actually reading that,” Naruto said out loud. 

Kakashi looked up from his little red book to look at the blonde. A single charcoal black eye stared right into Naruto’s baby blue eyes. Naruto just stared right back at him without flinching. After a minute or two had passed Kakashi sighed and closed the book.

“You're right,” He said. “I’m not.” 

As he slid the little book into his weapon pouch he asked “What gave me away?”

“Well, first off we must have been in here for ten minutes now and you have not even turned a single page of your book.” Naruto smirked. “I also remember you once mentioning during one of our Friday night walks home that Icha Icha Violence never did a good job at holding your attention for very long so that was why you rarely ever read it. If you really wanted to keep yourself distracted, you would have chosen one of your other books.”

“You remember me mentioning that, huh?”

“Of course I did! I remember all of the stories and things that you tell me!” Naruto said without even a moment of hesitation. 

Of course right after he said that Naruto immediately clamped his mouth shut and started to blush a bit in embarrassment. He hadn’t meant to say that, but the words flew out of his mouth before he could even stop himself. Naruto was frozen for a moment unsure of what to say or do after blurting that out loud, but he relaxed slightly when he heard Kakashi chuckle.

“Well, I’m glad that you are listening to me ramble on about whatever comes to mind. It’s good to know that whatever I say isn’t just going through one ear and out the other.” 

“I always like listening to your stories,” Naruto confessed he looked down at his feet. “Your stories are my favorite part of Friday.”

 _‘Of course I just like listening to your voice in general,’_ He thought although he didn’t dare tell Kakashi that. 

“So my stories are better than ramen?” The man asked in amusement. 

“They are just as good as ramen.” The boy said immediately. 

For Naruto ramen was the gold standard that pretty much everything was measured up against. To Naruto comparing something to ramen was his way of saying that he loved something. Kakashi seemed to understand that because he just chuckled slightly yet again and said “That is high praise coming from you.”

There was no mocking tone in Kakashi’s voice nor was there any teasing that could be detected. Kakashi meant what he said. Naruto looked up only to see that Kakashi was giving Naruto one of his very rare soft gentle looks. He looked rather relaxed and rather amused as he stared at Naruto. A spark of joy seemed to light up his obsidian eye like he was actually really enjoying the conversation. Naruto would even go as far as to say that Kakashi was giving him a look that could only be described as one of fondness. Upon thinking that Naruto could feel his cheeks start to burn a bit in embarrassment although he didn’t dare look away from Kakashi nor could he stop himself from smiling. He so rarely got to see Kakashi look so happy and relaxed like this, so Naruto was going to burn said image into his memory. Today had been pretty awful, but at least this image of a happy relaxed Kakashi was cheering him up a little. Kakashi cheer was just downright infectious. 

_‘Why the hell did it take me this long to notice how beautiful Kakashi is?’_ Naruto couldn’t help but silently ask himself. 

Truthfully, the answer to that mental question really didn’t matter. All Naruto knew was the fact that he was mentally kicking himself for not noticing earlier. Nothing about Kakashi had changed. While a bit on the rare side Kakashi’s looks of true happiness hadn’t only now made themselves known. Naruto had seen them plenty of times before in the past. Yet, it was only now that it was truly sinking in for him just how much he loved seeing Kakashi happy like that. It was only upon truly figuring out his feelings for the silver haired man did it really sink in for the blond that he would truly be lost if Kakashi wasn’t there.

_‘Figures it takes Kakashi getting kidnapped by an insane man for me to finally figure out that I’m in love with Kakashi,’_ Naruto thought with some slightly bitter amusement. 

Of course right after he thought that another thought hit him.

_‘If Kakashi had never been kidnapped how long would it have taken for you to figure out that you are in love with Kakashi? Would you have ever figured it out?’_

Naruto froze a bit at that thought. Would he have figured it out if it wasn’t for the Hiruko Incident? Naruto wanted to say that he would have been able to figure it out on his own, but Naruto knew himself well enough to know that wasn’t true. When it came to matters of the heart Naruto could be an incredibly thickheaded idiot. He went chasing after Sakura for far too long even when it was clear from the start that the pink haired girl could only love him as a brother and nothing more. It took his friends making some less then innocent comments about his relationship with Kakashi to even begin to think about just what Kakashi meant to him, and even then it took a shadow clone spelling it out for him to finally figure it out.

Although, chances are if the Hiruko Incident hadn’t happened something else farther down the line would have probably kicked his butt into gear although it was pretty depressing to think that would probably take something drastic like Kakashi’s near death for Naruto to finally get his butt into gear and actually figure out that he was in love with the man.

A tiny cough escaped from Naruto’s mouth when his thoughts took a turn for the depressing. That tiny cough caused Naruto to freeze up and that look of gentle fondness that Kakashi had been giving him metaled away to be replaced with a look of worry. Naruto silently mourned the fact that the moment had been ruined by a single cough, but he couldn’t linger on that feeling for long. Instead the old panic that he had felt over his strange new condition came back with vengeance.

Was this what is future was going to be like? Was he going to freeze up in fear every time he coughed? Would his friends always fly into a worried panic whenever Naruto so much as coughed from now on? 

“Naruto? Are you alright?” Kakashi asked in concern. 

“I’m fine,” Naruto said quickly. “No petals anyway.” 

The blonde weekly smiled at the Hatake, but the man didn’t return the smile. Instead the man just said “You got really quiet so suddenly. Did you start thinking of your condition?”

“Yeah.” 

Naruto was thinking of it now at any rate so that wasn’t exactly a lie. 

“We will figure this out Naruto. We have the great medic-nin on the case, and Shikamaru is already scanning the records with the others. We will find an answer to just what is wrong with you.” 

“It won’t be that easy to find an answer,” Naruto pointed out. “Baa-chan already made it clear that she hasn’t seen anything like this before. I doubt the answer is just going to be in any old book.”

“I didn’t say it was going to be easy, but easy or not we will find an answer. You won’t have to go through this alone Naruto. I’ll be here to support you along with all of our friends.” 

When Kakashi spoke like that Naruto realty wanted to believe him that they would find an answer. It probably helped that when Kakashi spoke it was very obvious that the man cared for him. The fact that Kakashi really cared for him made Naruto feel a bit happy even though he was still worried about the flower thing. Of course his small feeling of joy had to be snuffed out by that negative part of himself. 

**_‘Just because he cares doesn’t mean he would ever love you.’_ **

That negative thought crushed any joy that Naruto had at that moment. It also brought on a true coughing fit. There was no warning this time around. Naruto didn’t even get that tickling sensation in his throat to give him a heads up. One second he was fine, and the next second a mixture of red and orange flower petals were falling out of his mouth and fluttering to the floor. Naruto could feel a hand rub his back in a soothing manner, but he didn’t pay much attention to that. He just shuddered in disgust as two large flowers forced their way out of his mouth. The only bit of relief that Naruto had here was that the flower fit stopped when he coughed up the two flowers. Naruto stared down at the two flowers that were on the ground blankly. They looked like they were the same type of flower, but they were different colors. One flower was a bright vivid orange color with a bright yellow center. Some of the petals of the flower were pitch black in color. The other flower was a bright scarlet red color, and it also had a bright yellow center and some of the red petals were a dark black color.

“I actually recognize these flowers,” Naruto heard Kakashi murmur. “These are pansy flowers.” 

“There aren’t as many flowers this time,” Naruto commented.

“Not as many petals either,” Kakashi added. 

They were both silent for a moment neither man really sure of what to say. Eventually Naruto broke the silence by saying “Kakashi-sensei?” 

“Yes?”

“Do you think I’m going to be coughing up flowers for the rest of my life?” 

Naruto felt Kakashi place his hand on Naruto’s shoulder and gave it a comforting squeeze. Naruto noticed the man didn’t answer the question. The blonde wasn’t too surprised. Honestly, it was probably an unfair question to ask. The sound of the office door opening caused both of the men to look over at the door. Tsunade stepped inside with a thick folder in hand only to freeze when she really looked at them. They must have made for a strange sight what with the floor in front of them being covered in crimson and orange petals while Naruto was slouched in his chair like a man that was losing all hope. Meanwhile Kakashi was just standing there with a hand on Naruto’s shoulder looking like he had no idea on what he could say or do to comfort the Uzumaki boy. Tsunade stared at them for a minute or two before she let out a soft sigh. She closed the door behind her and walked into the room only to flop down onto the empty chair that was in front of the desk. 

“When did he start coughing up flowers?” She asked. 

Kakashi answered the question for Naruto by saying “Not too long ago. Probably two minutes ago. He just stopped a minute or so before you walked into the room.”

“Kakashi said they were pansy flowers if that helps you any,” Naruto added. 

Tsunade only sighed yet again as she dumped the folder onto the desk. 

“Sit down Kakashi we have a lot to cover.”

Kakashi glanced down at Naruto as if silently asking the blond if he was going to be alright if Kakashi left his side. Naruto gave the man what he hoped was a reassuring smile. It must have worked because Kakashi returned to his seat. Once the jōnin was seated Tsunade started talking. 

“I got the results back on the flowers.”

“And?” Kakashi said slowly.

“They are just ordinary regular flowers. The people who checked them over couldn’t find a single thing wrong with them.”

“Nothing?” Kakashi said in surprise.

“Nothing,” Tsunade confirmed. “No poisons, no strange chakra signatures, and the flowers were not made out of any weird material. If we didn’t know any better, it would have been easy to just say that the flowers were just normal flowers plucked out of someone’s garden.” 

The woman let out a loud snort of slight amusement as she said “In fact the flowers are so normal the people who did the tests on them actually had the nerve to ask if this was my strange idea of a joke.”

The woman let out a small sigh as she opened up the folder.

“A majority of the tests I did on Naruto came back with similar results. His blood tests came back normal, he passed his physical with flying colors, and for the most part the tests I ran on his chakra came back normal.”

“For the most part?” Kakashi repeated. 

“His chakra test was the only thing that came back with any slightly unusual results,” Tsunade said. “With that said I’m not sure if his chakra results are related to our situation or not. I have a few people going over the results, and I’m going to have to have Naruto come in every day while this flower thing is going on so we can run a test on his chakra to figure out if we actually have something here. It might actually be related, or it could be nothing. As it is now we really don’t know.”

“What’s wrong with my chakra?” Naruto asked. 

“Nothing is wrong with it per say,” Tsunade said slowly. “There is just something off about it.”

“Off how?” Kakashi asked. 

“Honestly, we almost didn’t catch it due to how faint it is. Still, there is something slightly off about his chakra. It’s hard to explain, but the best explanation I can give is that it is like there is something tainting it.”

“Tainting it?” Naruto said in confusion. 

“It’s really not that strange when it comes to you. Your charka has that sort of tainted feeling to it right after you use the nine tails chakra or after you have one of your episodes.” 

Naruto couldn’t help but avert his gaze upon hearing that. By episodes he knew that she meant the times when Naruto would lose control and go into one of his tailed forms. He really didn’t like thinking of those moments. It wasn’t pleasant for him nor was it pleasant for anyone who had to deal with it. Usually after one of those episodes Naruto would always feel tired and a bit out of sorts. It made him feel like he was on the cusp of falling ill with the flu. Naruto always powered through it, but just because he could deal with it didn’t make it suck any less. Tsunade give the boy a sad look. She knew exactly what was going through the boy’s head right now. However, she couldn’t stop the conversation now. The woman just took in a deep breath and continued on with her explanation. 

“Sometimes the power of the fox’s chakra will linger for a while. It isn’t anything to be concerned about. From the medical records we have on the past jinchūriki it is normal and will wear off eventually if you lay off on using the fox’s power for a while.” The woman shrugged slightly. “I would have been tempted to dismiss it, but the problem is that when your charka gets tainted by the fox’s charka the taint is stronger and you can immediately tell it is the fox. Tailed Beast chakra is unique and really hard to miss.”

The Hokage sighed as she said “However, whatever is tainting your chakra now is faint to the point we can’t really figure out what it is. Maybe it is just some of the nine tails’ chakra that hasn’t gone away yet.” 

The woman then shrugged as she said “Or it could be something else. Sometimes seals or jutsu that affect a person’s chakra can leave a similar sort of taint. It’s due to this that I can’t just brush this off, and it is why I want you to come in every weakened so I can monitor it. I want to have a Hyūga medic-nin that specializes in chakra problems check you over, but he’s currently out on a mission. He should be back in a few days, and once he has returned I’m going to have him take over your chakra checkups.” 

“OK,” Naruto said as he nodded. 

He wasn’t fond of the idea of having to come into the hospital so often, but he could live with it. At least tests on his chakra were pretty quick.

“I’m calling Jiraiya in to see if he can possibly shed some light on this. Maybe he has run across a similar case like this in his travels. If nothing else, he might be able to dig up some info from his sources that might help us figure out what is wrong.”

It was quiet in the room for a moment before Kakashi spoke up. 

“Is it possible that Naruto’s condition is connected to his jinchūriki statues?” 

Naruto stiffened a little upon hearing that. Was it possible? He had no idea. He had never heard of the fox saying anything about flowers. Tsunade looked thoughtful upon hearing Kakashi’s question, but after a few minutes of thought she shook her head.

“I doubt it. I have never heard of anything like this happening to a jinchūriki before.” The woman looked down at the ground only to frown when the sight of the red and orange petals met her gaze. “Of course the only way we would know for sure is if we could ask the fox about it.” 

_‘Yeah, good luck with that,’_ Naruto thought as a rolled his eyes.

He and the fox tolerated each other well enough, but Naruto wouldn’t exactly call them best friends or anything. Chances are the fox would just laugh at him coughing up flowers of all things and them promptly kick Naruto out of that weird swear mindscape place. ‘Then again if this is something that could actually be a danger to me he might be willing to share what he knows. Anything that happens to me will ultimately affect him.’ He really needed to talk to the fox later. Naruto shook that thought of for the moment in order to pay Tsunade. He mentally checked back into the conversation right when the woman started talking about Shikamaru.

“Shikamaru and his group haven’t gotten back to me on their search through the village records yet. It will probably take a few days to look through everything.” Tsunade leaned back slightly in her chair. “I’m planning on contacting a few of my friends in the medical field and seeing if maybe they have run across anything like this before. I’ll also have Sakura and Shizune go through the hospital records themselves and see if they can’t dig anything up.”

With all that said the woman looked at Naruto. 

“Until we figure out how we can treat this there isn’t much more we can do but keep giving you regular checkups to make sure you remain stable while we try to dig up whatever information that we can find on this.”

“So what should I do until then?” Naruto asked. “You said I have to come to the hospital for checkups so that means I’m not stuck staying in the hospital, right?” 

“All of the other tests that I ran on you say that you are a perfectly healthy eighteen-year-old. You aren’t in pain, throwing up blood, or anything dramatic like that so I’m not confining you to the hospital yet.” 

While the word yet was a bit concerning Naruto felt relieved and happy that he wasn’t being confined in the hospital. He really didn’t like staying in the hospital. Although, all of Naruto’s joy was sucked out when he heard Tsunade say “With that said I’m ordering you to take it easy. No major missions, or any missions that require a lot of physical activity.”

Naruto let out a loud groan of disappointment only to have Tsunade snap at him by saying “Oh, don’t you throw a fit brat! Be happy that I’m not confining you to bed rest.” 

After saying that a small smirk slowly appeared on her face. Naruto could feel a chill run down his spine upon seeing that smirk directed at him. That smirk did not fill him up with confidence. 

“With that said I want you stay with someone who can monitor you until either a treatment is found or we know for sure that you won’t get worse. If your condition suddenly takes a turn for the worse I don’t want you to be home all alone choking on flowers unable to get any help.”

For one split second Naruto thought about arguing with her. He was an experienced ninja and legally considered an adult. He could take care of himself and he didn’t need a babysitter. However, the more cautious part of him wasn’t as confidant in nothing going wrong.

_‘Would you really be alright all alone?’_ That cautious part of his brain asked. _‘You can’t even move when you start coughing up flowers. If you have a coughing fit you probably aren’t exactly going to be in any position to summon a shadow clone to drag you to the hospital.’_

Upon having that thought Naruto had to admit to himself that it probably wasn't a bright idea to be on his own while this was going on. When he started to cough up flowers he froze up and could do nothing but just let the petals fall and wait until it was over. At most he could move his hands slightly to grab onto something or cover his mouth, but even that took a lot of effort. 

Naruto sighed and asked Tsunade “Who am I staying with?” 

Clearly pleased that Naruto wasn’t going to fight her on this the woman smiled as she said “Simple, Kakashi will be taking care of you.” 

“What?” Both Kakashi and Naruto said at the same time.

“Kakashi will be taking care of you,” The Slug Sannin repeated. 

The woman held up a hand and started counting of her reasons before Kakashi and Naruto could even argue with her.

“I’m having Sai and Sakura look through the records to find an answer and that will take a few days so they will both be too busy to look after you. I’m also having Sakura help me go over the results of your tests and help with your checkups, so she will be way too busy to do it. She doesn’t really have the room in her home for you either. Also, while Yamato might be coming back today he has other duties to tend to so he can’t keep an eye on you. He doesn’t have the room for you in his single room apartment anyway.”

The woman’s smile grew a little larger as she continued to list reasons why Kakashi would be the best choice to watch over Naruto. “Kakashi is your team leader so he is in charge of his team’s well being so that means you, and due to the fact that your team will be spending most of its time trying to find out what is wrong with you he won’t exactly be going on any missions that require him to leave the village. Unless a real emergency comes up that requires his skills Kakashi is free to keep an eye on you.”

The woman’s eyes drifted over to the silver haired man as she said “You trust him, and Kakashi will make sure you are alright. He can get you to the hospital fast, and if you really go downhill to the point that he can’t leave your side to get help he can have one of his ninken come get me. I also know he moved into a bigger place a while back, so he has the room for you.” Neither Kakashi or Naruto really had any arguments that they could use against her. 

Naruto could feel his cheeks turn a little red as he mumbled out “I don’t want to be a burden for Kakashi-sensei.” 

“Naruto you could never be a burden,” Kakashi said with a bit more force then Naruto was honestly expecting.

One lone charcoal colored eye bore right into his blue eyes and Naruto knew right then and there that Kakashi wasn’t lying. Kakashi really didn’t think Naruto could be a burden. Naruto could feel just a tiny bit of joy fill him upon realizing it.

Apparently now committed to this new job Kakashi looked at Tsunade and said “I’ll take care of him.”

“Excellent!” Tsunade chirped out as she clapped her hands together. “Glad we got that settled!” 

Naruto could only sit there a blink a few times in surprise over how quickly Kakashi took on the job. There was no arguing against it now. Kakashi would be taking care of him until this whole mess was figured out.

_‘I just figured out that I’m in love with the guy today, and now I’m temporary moving into my crush’s home so he can take care of me,’_ Naruto thought in a daze.

The fact that he was actually going to be living in the same home as his crush both excited Naruto and terrified him in equal measures. The next few days were going to be interesting of that Naruto was sure of.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pansy flower- Pansy flowers can be used to symbolize loving thoughts, love in idleness, and to think in general. They can also be used to mean that you are being considerate to one’s feelings or pain.
> 
> The color red is usually a symbol of love, affection and romance. Due to the pansy already being a flower connected with feelings of affection the color red just amplifies this.
> 
> As for orange it is said that this color is a symbol of happiness, joy and optimism. This flower color can also symbolize love and passion. I read that orange pansy flowers can be an ideal gift for someone you love, but apparently it can also be a pretty good gift to give to someone who is going through some rough times in life. Due to what Naruto is going through right now I thought it was a pretty fitting flower color for Naruto.


	5. Clover Flower

' _Troublesome. Troublesome, troublesome, troublesome…_ ’

That one word played over and over in Shikamaru’s head like a broken record as he went through one book after another desperately looking for an answer to a problem that Shikamaru had never seen before. Just thinking of the problem made Shikamaru winch a little. That moment in the Hokage’s office had been less then pleasant. It was downright chilling to sit there and watch Naruto cough up flower petals. Naruto’s whole body shook with each cough that escaped from his mouth. He had to cling to Kakashi just to stay on his feet as a waterfall of flower petals fell from his mouth in an almost never ending stream. Naruto’s normally bright and cheerful blue eyes were dark and unfocused as the petals spilled onto the floor. Naruto's gagging as he spat out complete flowers made it almost sound like the blond was choking on the damn things. 

The scene itself was disturbing, but somehow the fact that it was happening to Naruto of all people made it worse. Shikamaru had never seen Naruto sick before. He had never even seen the boy catch so much as a cold. Yet, there when he was coughing up flowers of all things Naruto looked like he was seriously ill. Shikamaru wouldn’t go as far as saying that he looked frail, but the blue eyed boy honestly looked like he was only a few seconds away from passing out. It felt wrong to see such an energetic person look so tired and sick. The fact that the world’s number one medic-nin and an experienced jōnin like Kakashi had no clue just what was wrong with the Uzumaki boy just really helped to hammer in how odd this new condition that Naruto had was. Not helping matters was the fact that he wasn’t exactly having any luck finding anything that could possibly help Tsunade figure out just what was wrong with the blue eyed blond. He had gone through about ten books now and he had yet to find anything that could even be remotely related to Naruto’s strange condition. The occasional tired sighs and grumbled notes of frustration from his companions in the room seemed to imply that they were not having much better luck. 

Eventually Shikamaru heard Ino let out a loud groan of frustration as she slammed the book that she was holding down onto the table in front of her. Shikamaru sighed and said “Careful with that. Most of these books are almost as old as the village. They can’t handle too much rough treatment.”

“And yet none of these ancient books seem to have an answer or even a hint to this flower problem,” Ino grumbled.

Shikamaru didn’t say anything to that, but he couldn’t help but silently agree with her at least a little bit. Every single one of them had gone through at least ten books each, and none of them had found anything that could possibly explain just what was going on with Naruto. The only thing that even got remotely close was a scroll that Sai found that talked about how one could use seals to help with plant growth. 

“Whatever is effecting Naruto must be pretty rare if we haven’t found even a hint of it yet,” Chōji said as he slid the book that he was holding back onto the shelf that it had come from.

“I can’t even imagine what it must be like,” Ino says as she flops down in her chair. “I mean someone actually coughing up flowers? I can’t even picture it.”

“It isn’t a pretty picture,” Sai comments all while never looking up from the book that he is looking through.

“It really isn’t,” Sakura agrees as she unrolls the scroll that she intends to read through. 

“I really hope you and Chōji never see it,” Shikamaru added. 

“It’s that bad?” Ino asked. 

“It’s that horrifying,” Sakura muttered. 

The conversation sputters to a stop after Sakura said that. No one really knew what to say to that, and Sakura clearly didn’t was to elaborate. It stayed silent in the room for about a good five minutes or so. The only sound heard in the room was the sound of turning pages and a small almost unnoticed sigh from Sai that indicated that he didn’t find what he wanted in the book that he was currently holding. Ino sits in her seat silently with a thoughtful look on her face as she slowly grabbed a book out of the pile of books that were on the table and plopped it down on the table in front of her.

“What flowers had he been coughing up again?” Ino asked suddenly. 

“According to Naruto Red carnations were the first flower that he coughed up,” Sai answered. 

“He then coughed up a gardenia,” Sakura added. “That was the first one that we actually saw him cough up.”

“And then he coughed up some pink azalea flowers in the Hokage’s office,” Shikamaru finished.

Ino said nothing to these answers at first. She just sat there with a look of deep thought on her face. Shikamaru had no idea what was going through his teammates head. Sometimes trying to figure out what was going through her head was downright impossible. The boy mentally shrugged as he ignored Ino in favor of pulling a new book off of the shelf. 

However, just when he was about to pull out a thick green book whose title had long since faded off of its’ spine Shikamaru head Ino suddenly shout out “They are all connected to love!”

“What?” Shikamaru said as he looked over at the Yamanaka girl.

“I…” The girl started only to shake her head. “Alright, so follow me with this. It probably doesn’t mean anything, but it is all I can focus on and I have to tell someone.” 

The girl tapped her fingers down on the table on the table as she said “Alright, so you know that flowers can be used to symbolize things right? If there is something you can’t say out loud you can say it with flowers.”

“Yeah, you babble about that every now and again,” Shikamaru said. 

“They covered flower symbolism in the classes that all the girls had to take back in the Academy,” Sakura commented. “Like flowers can be used to send messages. We didn’t really go in depth on that topic, but they covered the basics.”

Ino nodded and said “Right, well when I was thinking about the flowers that Naruto is coughing up I noticed something. All the flowers are tied to the subject of love.”

“Really?” Chōji said in surprise. “Every single one of them?”

“Every single one,” She confirmed.

“Truly?” Sai said as he dropped his book into the ‘useless’ pile that he had been slowly building up over the last hour. “What do red carnations mean?” 

“My heart aches for you. It can also mean deep love and affection in general.”

“Gardenias?” Sakura asked. 

“A secret or untold love. It can also be a way of saying ‘you are lovely’.”

Sakura looked a little thoughtful at that last bit, but after a few seconds had passed by the girl just shook her head as if to dismiss whatever it was that she was thinking. Shikamaru took a mental note of that, but didn’t bother asking the pink haired girl what was going through her head. 

Instead, he just said “And dark pink azalea flowers?”

“Dark pink azalea flowers are supposed to be a symbol of romance, love, and passion. In general azalea flowers can symbolize fragile or still developing passion.” Ino shrugged slightly. “I know that they can also be used to tell someone to take care of themselves, but giving someone pink azalea flowers usually means that you are trying to evoke their romantic meaning.” 

“Huh,” Shikamaru said, but he didn’t say anything beyond that.

He really wasn’t sure what to say. It was probably a coincidence and nothing more. 

‘ _But what if it isn’t? What if Ino is onto something here?_ ’ A little voice in the back of Shikamaru’s head asked.

The urge to smoke a cigarette was rising with every second. The fact that the Hokage would probably kill him if he turned on his lighter in a room filled to the brim with ancient and very flammable books and scrolls was the only thing that kept him from doing so. 

“You think it is a coincidence?” Chōji asked out loud. 

“No idea,” Shikamaru answered honestly. “I want to say that it means nothing, but I don’t want to brush off the possibility that Ino might be onto something here. I doubt Naruto is coughing up random flowers for the heck of it. There has to be a reason why he coughed up those flowers.” 

“But why flowers that are typically connected to the subject of love?” Sai asked. “That seems like an odd thing to have Naruto cough up.” 

Shikamaru could only shrug in response.

“Who knows? We could be totally wrong about it meaning anything.” Shikamaru slowly moved his gaze over to Ino. “With that said it wouldn’t hurt to keep track of what flowers Naruto coughs up. If they continue to follow this pattern of having a connection to love then I think it will be safe to assume that we are actually onto something here.”

Ino smiled slightly as she said “Just keep me informed on what flowers Naruto is coughing up and I’ll be sure to find out what all the flowers symbolize.”

“You think knowing that the flowers are connected to love will be really helpful?” Sakura asked as she rolled up her scroll and dumped it into the pitifully small ‘might be useful’ pile that they were creating. 

“It won’t hurt to know at any rate,” Shikamaru said. “If we can dig up some info on whatever is affecting Naruto it could turn out that knowing just what the flowers mean could be useful.”

“Or the only thing we will end up doing is learning about the meaning of random flowers,” Sai said as that fake smile of his appeared on his face.

Shikamaru just shrugged yet again. “As I said it won’t hurt at any rate. Ino is like a walking flower encyclopedia. It’s not like it will be any trouble for her to figure out what the flowers mean.”

Ino started to grin upon hearing Shikamaru’s words, and he could see her puff up in pride. Shikamaru was willing to let her have her moment. She really was a walking flower encyclopedia. She knew more about flowers than half the village combined. It must have been a Yamanaka clan thing. The Yamanaka clan heads had been running a flower shop since the first Hokage was in office. Ino had spent her whole life surrounded by flowers, so it really wasn’t surprising that she knew so much about them. 

The Nara was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Ino say “I was thinking of maybe asking my dad about this flower thing that is affecting Naruto.”

“You think he would know anything?” Sai asked.

“He might,” Ino said slowly. “The Yamanaka clan has a long history of caring for flowers and plants. Maybe my dad might know something, or we could have something in the clan records that could help.”

“Worth a shot,” Shikamaru said with a slight shrug of his shoulders.

“Of course before we can do any of that we have to finish our job here,” Sai pointed out.

Ino let out a soft sigh as her shoulders slumped a bit it defeat. “And that could take all day.”

“Less complaining and more searching,” Shikamaru said. “The sooner we get done the sooner we can leave and talk to your dad.”

Ino sighed yet again, but she didn’t say anything. She just opened up the book in front of her and started reading. Shikamaru returned to the task at hand without comment although he was about excited about it as Ino was. Deep down he also wasn’t very hopeful about finding in answer here anyway. The Hokage Tower’s private records were vast and filled with all sorts of valuable information. With that said the Nara boy was at least halfway convinced that the answer to Naruto’s issue wouldn’t be found here. They had already been in that room for almost two hours doing nothing but looking at scrolls and books for an answer. They found a few things that might be able to help Tsunade in curing or at least diagnosing Naruto, but the chances of them actually being being helpful were pretty slim. They hadn’t found anything that really seemed connected to Naruto’s problem. 

_‘I hope for Naruto’s sake that Ino’s dad can point us in the right direction,_ ’ The Nara boy thought. 

Truthfully, Shikamaru didn’t have that much hope in him being very helpful. If their general failure to find anything truly connected to Naruto’s case was anything to go by it was pretty clear that finding a solution to Naruto’s flower problem would be anything but easy….

\-------------------------------------

“Alright, we should probably go to your apartment and pack up all of the essentials that you will need and bring them to my apartment.” 

Naruto can do nothing but nod as he starts to follow the man out of the hospital and down the road that would take them to Naruto’s apartment. Kakashi shot him an unreadable look, but didn’t say anything. Naruto was grateful for that. He really wasn’t in the right mindset to really hold much of a conversation at that moment. He was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that he would be staying in Kakashi’s home for only who knows how long. He could understand the reasoning behind why he was going to be staying with Kakashi. Out of everyone on his team Kakashi really was the best choice. The only other choice that made sense was Sakura, but she didn’t have the room and she was going to have her hands full helping Tsunade try to figure out just what was wrong with Naruto so she really couldn’t care for him. Naruto understood that perfectly. 

However, just because he understood it that didn’t mean he could get over the fact that he would be staying in the same house as the man that he was in love with. The fact that he was essentially moving into Kakashi’s house on the same day that Naruto figured out that he was in love with the man was just the icing on the cake. Upon thinking that Naruto couldn’t help but glance over at Kakashi. The man had whipped out his Icha Icha Paradise book out and currently had his uncovered eye glued onto the pages as they walked along. He was turning the pages occasionally which led Naruto to think that the man was dedicating at least some attention to the pages of the old orange book. 

_‘I wonder what he is thinking about?_ ’ Naruto thought.

It was hard to tell. Naruto had gotten a bit better at reading Kakashi over the years, but sometimes it was still pretty hard to know what was going through the silver haired man’s head. How was he taking to the idea that he would be sharing living space with Naruto? He had been just as shocked at Naruto when he had been told that he would be caring for the blond, but after Tsunade had given her list of reasons as to why he was to take on the job Kakashi had actually accepted without any arguments. Heck, if anything he sounded almost determined to do his best with the job.

_‘Is that really surprising though?_ ’ He thought to himself. _‘Kakashi always takes a job seriously when it comes to the well being of his comrades_.’

With that in mind it really wasn’t surprising that Kakashi was taking the job on with such determination. Of course the real question here was just how long would that last? Kakashi was a guy who liked his privacy and probably very much enjoyed his peace and quiet. Yet, here was Naruto bumbling into his house coughing up flower petals all over the place. Kakashi would have to tolerate Naruto’s prescience in his usually quiet house for possibly a long time. It’s not that Naruto was planning on being a bad house guest. If anything Naruto was going to do his very best to make sure that he would not be a burden on the man. Still, he couldn’t help but be nervous about the whole thing for a whole verity of reasons.

“You alright?”

Naruto blinked a few times upon hearing the sudden question spoken out loud. He glanced over at Kakashi only to see that the man had his eye glued onto him. 

“I’m fine,” Naruto said quickly. “Just thinking about a lot of stuff.”

“I can tell,” Kakashi said. “You want to talk about it?”

Naruto really felt like saying no to that question. There were a few things rattling around in his head that he really didn’t want to share with Kakashi. With that said there were a few safe topics that he could bring up, and staying silent would probably just worry Kakashi. Naruto silently debated just what he should say for a few minutes before he finally decided on a topic that he could talk about. However, he must have taken too long to decide on what to say because just when he was about to speak Kakashi started to speak.

“I already said this in the hospital, but I think I need to say it again. You won’t be a burden on me.” 

It felt like Kakashi was staring into his very soul when he said that. The deep intensity in that stare left no room for argument.

Still, Naruto found himself jokingly saying “I don’t know. You might get tired of being stuck with me after a few days.” 

He said it in such an easygoing way that to anyone else they would think Naruto was just joking. However, Kakashi knew Naruto well enough to be able to see that Naruto was being at least somewhat serious when he said that.

“I won’t get tired of you,” Kakashi said in a rather serious tone. “And I won’t dump you into someone else if the chance to have someone else watch over you pops up. The only way you are leaving my care is either when you are cured, or because Tsunade demands it.” 

Kakashi’s infamous eye smile appeared as he said “So until one of those thing happen you are stuck with me.” 

“I don’t think being stuck with you is a bad thing,” Naruto said without even thinking. 

Naruto saw Kakashi’s eye widen slightly upon hearing that, and for one split second Naruto wondered if he shouldn’t have said that. However, before Naruto could even regret his words he saw Kakashi’s surprised look turn into a look of fondness.

“I’m happy to hear you say that,” Kakashi said softly. “You should know that the same applies to you. I don’t think being the one stuck taking care of you is a bad thing.”

“Do you mean that?” Naruto found himself asking before he could stop himself. 

He really couldn’t help but ask. Growing up Naruto had been told all too often that his mere presence was nothing but a nuisance. When he wasn’t being called a demon, a brat, or a combination of those two words he was being told how annoying he was. During his days in the Academy he had heard rather frequently from other students and even a few teachers about how annoying he was.

He was too loud.

He was too energetic.

He was too much of a class clown.

He was the idiot student who mastered Henge no Jutsu last. 

On and on it went and Naruto wasn’t going to lie. It hurt to hear so many people rip him apart like that day after day. It hurt a lot. Nothing hurts more then to have someone sit there in front of you and pick apart everything that made you who you were. To some extant Naruto took that hurt and channeled it into his pranks. They thought he was annoying and that his quick harmless pranks were aggravating? Well, why not ramp things up and give them pranks they would never forget like painting the Hokage mountain in as much graffiti as possible? Ramping things up probably wasn’t the best idea in hindsight, but honestly once Naruto got to the point that he was making seem like the stony facade of the third Hokage had a bloody nose Naruto had already given up on finding someone who would care about him. He never lost his faint flicker of hope that maybe one day that would change, but he slowly resigning himself to the thought that the only reason anyone interacted with him at all was because they were obligated to and not because they wanted to.

It did end up changing when Iruka started to make an effort to get to know the boy. Iruka was the very first person in his life who ever spent time with him because he wanted to spend time with Naruto. No one forced Iruka to spend time with him, and the brown haired man seemed to actually enjoy his time with the energetic Uzumaki. For that reason alone, Naruto would always think the world of the man. After Iruka more people who came to care about Naruto slowly trickled into his life. First it was Iruka, then it was Konohamaru and his friends, then Team 7 came into his life. Soon people like Lee, Shikamaru, Hinata, and many other people stopped being just old acquaintances from his Academy days and started to become his closest friends. These days he actually had people who cared about him and spent their time with him because they wanted to be with him and not because they were obligated to. Still, even to this day he had this deep fear that his friends would one day think he was too annoying to be around, or that they could only tolerate him in small doses. Maybe it was a stupid fear, but fears from childhood were hard to get rid of. As much as Naruto wished it didn't that fear applied to Kakashi as well. 

If Kakashi was surprised by Naruto's question he didn’t show it. Instead, he just gave Naruto one of his eye smiles as he said “Trust me I wouldn’t lie about something like that. If someone or something annoys me I’m quick to let them know that.” 

_‘That’s true,’_ Naruto thought. Kakashi wasn’t one to sugarcoat things, and he tended to say his real thoughts on someone with no issues.

“Your high energy can be a little exhausting sometimes-“

“I’m not that bad!” Naruto shouted out.

“But that is just part of your charm,” Kakashi said all while ignoring Naruto’s outburst. “You wouldn’t be you if you were not an energetic ball of sunshine, and I rather like you as you are.”

Naruto could feel a blush start to color his cheeks, but he ignored that in favor of enjoying the feeling of happiness that was washing over him at what Kakashi said. What he said wasn’t anything big, It’s not like the man confessed his undying love for Naruto or anything like that, but at that moment it didn’t matter. For now, it was enough to hear that Kakashi liked Naruto just the way he was. It wasn’t enough to make this rather horrible day totally okay, but it did help to lift his spirits. 

“Oh, it looks like we are here.”

Naruto blinked a few times in confusion at the sudden shift in subject, but that was all forgotten when he looked forward only to see that they were indeed right outside of his apartment building. 

_‘That was quick,’_ He thought. 

He had honestly thought that the walk from the hospital to his apartment would take longer. Their talk had really helped pass the time. Kakashi walked past Naruto and went up a few steps before he paused to turn and look back at Naruto. 

“Don’t stress out too much over sharing a house. It might take a bit of adjusting on both our parts, but we will figure it out."

Kakashi then gave him one of those honest smiles of his. He could see the mask crumple up a bit as a small smile formed under the fabric. Naruto could see that rare look of soft fondness shinning in his uncovered eye. 

“We will be OK.”

With that said Kakashi promptly stuck his face back into his book and continued on his way up the stairs that would lead him to Naruto’s apartment. Naruto watched him go for a few seconds before he finally snapped out of it and quickly scurried after the silver haired man. As he raced after the man a small smile slowly formed on Naruto’s face. He wasn’t quite as confidant as Kakashi was that this would all end up being just fine, but after hearing him speak Naruto was at least hopeful that maybe just maybe everything would be okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Clover Flower: Is is said that in the language of flowers clover flowers mean "Think of me", or "Be mine"
> 
> I have read that it can be used to tell someone that you are thinking of them.
> 
> Other things that the white clover flower can be used to symbolize are happiness, and they can be used to symbolize a promise.


	6. Honeysuckle flower

For as many times as Kakashi had walked Naruto home every Friday the man didn’t really go inside the apartment much. He had dropped by it more times than he could count, but he rarely actually went in. At most he would just see the view of Naruto’s kitchen from the window when Kakashi would pop in to drop off a basket of food for the boy. Kakashi could count on one hand exactly how many times he had been inside of Naruto’s apartment. The first time he had been in Naruto’s house had been when the Third Hokage had been showing him the homes of his possible new students. At the time Kakashi had been disappointed and a tad bit worried about Naruto’s living conditions.

To call Naruto’s apartment a disaster zone would have been putting it lightly. It honestly looked like a garbage bag and a hamper full of dirty clothing had exploded in the apartment and Kakashi was there to see the aftermath. His kitchen counters and table were covered in stacks of empty ramen cups with a few dirty dishes here and there. His floor had piles of clothing just lying all over the place. Worryingly Naruto had a carton of milk that had gone bad at least a week ago in his fridge although it’s not like the rest of the boy’s food was much better. Most of the food in the boy’s fridge had been teetering very close to the edge of being spoiled. Only the vast collection of instant ramen that he had stashed away in his cupboards were in a fine condition.

As for the apartment itself the only part of the apartment that wasn’t a mess was a single shelf lined with plants. Kakashi wasn’t an expert on plants so he didn’t really recognize any of the plants sitting on the shelf. The only one he did recognize was a strawberry plant that was just starting to produce its sweet red fruit. The plants were obviously well cared for, but to Kakashi they were the only things in the enter apartment that were cared for.

Kakashi had just been disappointed to see just what sort of living conditions that his sensei’s son was living in. Minato had not been a neat freak by any means, but the man had always kept a clean and orderly house. Kushina was a bit laxer on cleaning, but she never let it go beyond letting the clothing hamper overflow a bit because she got busy with missions. 

“If my house gets too messy it starts stressing me out you know?” Kakashi remembered Kushina saying once when she was in one of her rare ‘deep clean the whole house’ moods.

If Kushina could see the conditions that her son was living in she would have lost her mind. At the time other than the feeling of vague disappointment and worry Kakashi hadn’t thought much about it. He wasn’t even sure if we would become Naruto’s sensei. If the kids couldn’t pass his test he would not become their sensei and they would take a one way trip back to the Academy. There would be no exceptions on this test not even for his sensei’s son. Well, somehow Naruto passed the test and suddenly the boy’s living condition was Kakashi’s problem. 

Sadly, it took about a full month for hindsight to really kick in for Kakashi on just why Naruto’s apartment was in rather terrible condition. Naruto had been living on his own since he was four years old. Who was around to teach Naruto how to clean up after himself? Who was around to make sure the boy actually did the chores around the house? Who was there to teach him how to cook something more than instant ramen?

The answer to those questions was no one. There wasn’t a single person around who could or would help Naruto with any of those things. The Third Hokage was far too busy to do such a thing. Iruka only really became a permanent part of Naruto’s life when the boy was a bit older and already set in his ways. The teacher did what he could to help, but there was only so much he could do to help. He sure as hell couldn’t teach Naruto how to cook. The rather comical story Kakashi heard from Naruto of how Iruka accidentally started a fire when trying to cook tempura of all things made it pretty clear to Kakashi that the man was hopeless in the kitchen and shouldn’t teach anyone about cooking. 

As for Kakashi he probably wasn’t the best person to be teaching Naruto any of that. Sadly, at least at the start of Naruto’s ninja career, Kakashi was too busy monitoring the team during D-Rank missions, teaching them a few ninja techniques, or he was being pulled away to handle a mission that required the Copycat Ninja’s skills. He didn’t have that much time on his hands to teach the boy how to better care for his own home although honestly Kakashi was pretty sure that if he tried to do so the blond would just complain and whine that Kakashi could be teaching him more useful things like really awesome jutsus or something like that. At best all Kakashi could really do was heavily hint at the idea of Naruto at least throwing his ramen containers away the second he was done with them, and that checking the expiration date of his food before he ate it would probably be a good idea.

While he couldn’t do much about the garbage problem he could do something about the food problem. At least when Naruto was a fresh faced genin he was still getting a small bit of money from the village to support him due to being an orphan on his own. All orphans in the village who lived on their own were funded like that until they aged out of the system. The D-Rank missions that they were doing also gave the boy a bit of spending money. However, both of those things only paid just enough for Naruto to survive, and even then his money was being stretched pretty thin. Chances are the boy bought food that was closer to expiring because it was cheaper. As for the instant ramen it had a long shelf life, it was cheap, and the fact that it was Naruto’s favorite food was just a bonus. Kakashi figured he could help out with the food situation by dropping off fresh produce for the boy at least once every week.

His first time dropping off a basket of vegetables at Naruto’s house he hadn’t exactly been met with enthusiasm. The boy wasn’t exactly fond of vegetables and he made that very clear to Kakashi multiple times. The second time Kakashi dropped off food he included a nice variety of fruit in hopes that it would get a better reaction. Luckily, Naruto had been rather happy with the fruit. The blond may not have liked vegetables much, but he seemed to really enjoy fruit. After that Kakashi would pop by Naruto’s kitchen window with a bag of fresh fruit and vegetables which Naruto would accept with gratitude. The fact that these weekly food drop offs also usually included a carton of fresh milk went uncommented on. Kakashi kept those deliveries going right up to the day that Naruto left to go on a training trip with Jiraiya. 

Even when Kakashi was busy training Sasuke to survive his battle with Gaara he still made sure to send a clone to drop off the groceries. At that point it had become a ritual that Kakashi didn’t care enough to stop and Naruto never complained about it. Jiraiya taking Naruto away to train was the only thing that put an end to it. Kakashi didn’t start it up again once Naruto returned. The boy was making more than enough money to support himself now, so he really didn’t need Kakashi to drop groceries off at his kitchen window anymore. Sometimes Kakashi missed having that little excuse to drop by and visit Naruto, but honestly he was just happy that the boy was in a more stable situation now. He was also happy that he was at least able to see that his grocery run and frequent suggestions to at least keep his kitchen counters clean seemed to help.

The second and only other time that Kakashi had been by Naruto’s house was shortly before the chūnin exams. Naruto had trained to the point of exhaustion. He could barely walk much less stand, so Kakashi decided to bring him home and make sure he got into bed. The fact that Naruto hadn’t argued about it just really seemed to show how tired he was. When he stepped into Naruto’s house it had been almost as bad as the first time he had been there. Clothing still littered the floor, the boy’s coffee table had a stack of empty ramen cups on it, and Kakashi could see training scrolls and items shoved wherever Naruto could fit them. 

However, a quick glance into Naruto’s kitchen as he walked by showed that the boy seemed to be at least somewhat listening to Kakashi’s suggestions about cleaning as he cooked. His kitchen counters were clear of ramen cups, and he had the fruit Kakashi had given him set out in a fruit bowl. The few banana peels that he could see sticking out of the trashcan showed that the boy was eating what Kakashi was giving him, so the food wasn’t going to waste. Naruto’s sink was still piled high with dirty dishes, but the fact that Kakashi was able to talk the boy into at least somewhat cleaning his kitchen was enough for the silver haired man to be grateful for his small victory. He wouldn’t comment on the overflowing sink to the exhausted Naruto.

Instead, all he said was “Glad to see that you are actually eating the things I give you.”

Somehow the exhausted Naruto had enough energy to say “Well, of course I am! If you are going to go to all the trouble to bring me some food that I actually like then I should make sure to enjoy it.”

Kakashi had just chuckled before he helped the boy get to bed and then left to return home himself. He hadn’t said anything more other than laugh a bit about Naruto’s comment. However, Naruto’s comment had made Kakashi happy. He was happy that such a small gesture was appreciated, and that it did seem to be making Naruto at least a little happy. That one visit convinced Kakashi to just keep the food delivery up. Sometimes he was limited in what he could do to Naruto make Naruto’s life a bit easier, but bringing the kid food that enjoyed every week? That was something he could do, or at least it was something that he could do until Naruto was better able to care for himself. 

At any rate other than those two times Kakashi hadn’t really been inside of Naruto’s apartment. He really wasn’t sure what to expect from this third visit. He honestly figured Naruto’s home would probably be about as messy as it was last time. So when Naruto unlocked his door and led the man in he was rather surprised to see that it wasn’t a mess like he was expecting. In fact, it was actually rather tidy. There was no clothing littering the floor, the coffee table wasn’t littered with ramen cups, and it looked like Naruto actually had a few shelves in his house dedicated to holding things needed for his ninja job like tools used for weapon maintenance, training scrolls, and things like ninja wire or extra pouches for holding weapons. That wasn’t saying that the house was spotless. A large fluffy orange blanket was hastily shoved into the corner of the couch, and the coffee table had a few of the movies from the Princess Gale series lying on top of it. A vacuum cleaner sat in the corner of the living room obviously waiting to actually be put away. It was definitely felt lived in, but that wasn’t a bad thing. It actually felt like a home now and not a garbage dump that Naruto was unfortunate enough to live in.

“It’s so clean here. Are you sure we got the right apartment?” Kakashi teased as he stepped into the apartment.

“Oh, ha ha. Real funny. I’ll have you know that I have been keeping my house clean ever since I came back from the training trip with Pervy Sage.” Naruto said as he dumped his keys onto the coffee table and started to make his way toward his bedroom. 

“I have been dropping hints on you to clean your apartment clean for years. What made you actually start cleaning this place?” 

“Sakura!” Naruto called out from his bedroom. “I had her take care of my plants for me while I was gone. She got so fed up with how dirty the place was that one day she deep cleaned the whole apartment. She told me after she spent all day cleaning it I better actually start taking care of the place. Said if I turned this place back into a dump she would kill me.”

Kakashi chuckled a little upon hearing that. 

“Yeah, that sounds like her.” He said as he walked over to a nearby shelf that held Naruto’s collection of plants.

It looked about the same as the first time he saw them although it did look like he added two new plants to his collection. Kakashi could not help but smile a bit upon seeing the strawberry plant that was heavily with strawberries that were just starting to become ready to be picked and eaten. However, his smile faded when he saw a blossoming gardenia. Seeing that flower just reminded him of how he watched Naruto struggle for breath as he coughed up white petals. Kakashi cringed a bit at the memory and quickly moved away from the plants. He really didn’t want to think of that moment if he could help it.

Mercifully, Naruto said something that helped distract him. “You know I don’t mind that Sakura kicked my butt into gear about keep my house clean. Feels less stressful when you aren’t surrounded by a mess you know?” 

Kakashi snorted a bit in amusement upon hearing that. ‘ _He sounds his mother when he says that,_ ’ He thought. 

“You know you would have learned about the joys of keeping a clean home a lot earlier if you had just took up my suggestions to clean up more often.” 

Kakashi heard some grumbling coming from Naruto’s direction after he said that, but more noticeably he noticed that Naruto had no rebuttal to Kakashi’s comment. Kakashi rolled his eyes a bit an amusement bust said nothing else. He just looked around the living room. His eyes drifted over to the movies that were lying on the coffee table. Kakashi wasn’t surprised to see that the boy owned every single Princess Gale that currently existed. He had been a big fan of the actress, Koyuki Kazahana, before they went on the mission to the Land of Snow, and that hadn’t changed one bit after the mission. If anything he seemed to be a bigger fan of her. Kakashi couldn’t help but feel a small smile briefly cross his face when he saw that the movie that he and his team had become unwitting actors in while on the mission. Written on the cover was a short message by the actress.

**To my number one fan who never gives up,**

**Figured you would want a copy of the movie that your team ended up unintentionally staring it. If you ever decide that you and your team want to take up acting I’m sure the director would hire you all in a heartbeat. He always thought the scenes staring you and your sensei were, and I am quoting here, ‘the greatest scenes that I have ever filmed in my whole career as a director’.**  
**-Love, Koyuki**

Kakashi couldn’t help but feel both amused by that message and a bit embarrassed. Kakashi had never watched the movie, but a few of his fellow Jōnin had and they had ribbed him about it for a solid week. Guy never stopped harping on about how ‘youthful’ his scenes in the movie where. Meanwhile, Asuma and Kurenai never stopped joking about how Kakashi had obviously missed his calling as an actor. Thinking of Asuma’s joking comments about it all was rather bittersweet. 

_‘Maybe I should actually sit down and watch this one day to see just why he thought it was so funny,’_ Kakashi thought. 

He was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Naruto call out “How much clothing should I pack?”

“Enough for two weeks for now,” Kakashi answered. “If we end up needing more than that we can drop by your house and get more clothing.”

“OK!”

Upon hearing that Kakashi went back to his looking around. He glanced at the rest of the items on the coffee table only to freeze when he spotted Naruto’s apartment key. The key itself wasn’t anything special, but the keychain attached to it was worth noticing. Kakashi hadn’t seen it earlier when Naruto had opened the door due to him paying attention more to Naruto himself rather than the key. However, now that he was looking at the keychain he couldn’t help but stare at it. The keychain was of a pug dog wearing a blue vest with a white circle on the back, and it was also wearing a ninja headband. It looked like both the headband and the vest had been left blank when the keychain was made, but someone had drawn on the symbol of the leaf village onto the headband and Kakashi’s symbol onto the vest with permanent marker. With the two additions to the vest and headband the keychain looked like an exact copy of Pakkun. 

“When did you get a keychain of Pakkun?”

A loud thump was immediately heard from the bedroom after he asked that. 

“You OK?” 

“I’m fine!” Naruto quickly answered. 

A few seconds later Kakashi could see Naruto dragging an overstuffed backpack behind him. The boy’s cheeks were a little red which was a little concerning to Kakashi. Considering his condition there was no telling if it was alright for him to be doing any heavy lifting. Heck, if anything the fact that Naruto was all flushed like that made Kakashi think that maybe Tsunade’s decision to keep him from doing any D-Rank missions that required a lot of physical work was the right one.

“Are you sure you are alright? You are looking a little flushed.”

“I’m fine!” The boy practically squeaked out. 

He dumped the bag down next to the couch before he glanced over at the keychain.

“I have had that thing for a few years now. I’m a bit surprised that this is the first time that you have seen it.” 

“Where on earth did you get it?”

“You weren’t with us when I got it. Sakura got it during our mission to protect that Idate guy during the Todoroki Shrine Race. I can’t remember why exactly Sakura got it. I think it was because she helped out the lady who was selling souvenirs with something, and the keychain was a reward for the help.” Naruto shrugged. “She didn’t want to keep it. Something about her reminding her how she and a Pakkun used the same shampoo? I have no idea. She ended up asking me and Sasuke if one of us wanted it, and I jumped at the chance to have it. Sasuke didn’t care, so I got it.” 

“And the marker symbols drawn onto the keychain?” 

“The dog itself already looked like Pakkun. I figured I might as well just add on the only two things that it was missing to really make it look just like Pakkun.” 

“Didn’t know you liked him so much,” Kakashi joked.

“Pakkun’s cute,” Naruto murmured. “And….” 

Naruto’s speech slowly came to a stop.

Kakashi waited for him continue, but he never did. 

“And…?” Kakashi said slowly.

Naruto scratched the back of his head as he said “I don’t know when I see your ninken I always think of you. I just liked the idea of having something that reminds me of the people I care about.” 

Kakashi froze a bit upon hearing that. 

_I just like having something that reminds me of the people I care about._

That sentence played over and over in Kakashi’s head. Just hearing that made Kakashi feel all warm and fuzzy inside. It was a bit ridicules to get all worked up about it like lovesick teenager with a crush, but honestly Kakashi couldn’t help but feel happy hearing it. 

“So I’m one of the people you care about, huh?” Kakashi said with a tiny bit of humor in his voice. 

“Of course you are!” Naruto said without even a hint of hesitation. “In fact you were one of my first precious people!”

Kakashi was happy that he was wearing a mask because he was sure he was blushing just a little bit. It was rare that anyone ever told Kakashi that they cared so much for him point blank like that. It was nice. It was even nicer to hear that coming from Naruto. 

“You are important to me too you know,” Kakashi said. 

Naruto’s eyes widened a bit upon hearing that, but soon a bashful pleased smile appeared on his face. Kakashi was happy to see that smile. Naruto always looked beautiful when he smiled an honest smile and not one of his fake grins. It made him even happier to know that he was the one who made Naruto smile like that. Much as Kakashi would have liked to sit there and bask in the joy that was Naruto’s shy little smile they really needed to get a move on. There was a lot to do to really get his house ready for Naruto’s stay, so they didn’t have time to hang around. 

“You ready to go?”

Naruto snapped back into the moment upon hearing that.

“Almost,” He answered. “Let me just get my plants set up. I got these plant watering globes that I need to fill up and put into my plants’ pots. It should keep them watered while I’m away. I want to come by every weekend to check them and refill the globes.” 

“That’s fine,” Kakashi said as he flopped down onto Naruto’s couch. “I’ll wait here.” 

Naruto scampered off to take care of his plants, and the second Kakashi heard the faucet running in the next room he heard Naruto ask a question. 

“So are there any rules I should follow while staying at your house?” 

“Rules?” 

Kakashi heard the water being turned off only to see Naruto pop back into the room with an arm full of the plant watering globes that he had mentioned.

“Yeah,” Naruto said as he started placing the globes into the plant pots. “Like don’t ever go into this one room. Don’t feed the ninken after midnight. Stuff like that.” 

Kakashi couldn’t help but laugh a little before he said. “Naruto, they are dogs not gremlins. They can have a snack after midnight.” 

Once Kakashi’s amusement died down a little he said “There are a few ground rules, but it is not anything major. Make sure to clean up after yourself, if the door to my room is closed make sure you knock before you come in, if we run low on anything in the kitchen like milk or bread write it down on the grocery list that is on the fridge so I’ll know to pick some up, and I might have you help me with a few chores.”

The man shrugged. “Other than that there are no major rules. If I think of anything else that I think you should know I’ll let you know.” 

Naruto nodded as he finished up taking care of the plants. Once he was done Naruto started reaching for his backpack only to have Kakashi stop him.

“I’ll carry it,” Kakashi said as he slid off of the couch and picked the backpack up. 

“You sure?”

“Until we know that it’s safe for you to do heavy lifting I think it would be best if I handle carrying heavy things for you.” 

Naruto let out a loud sigh upon hearing that. “Is this what I’m going to have to deal with from now on? Everyone doing stuff for me because I’m too sick to?”

“It won’t last forever,” Kakashi said as he reached out and ruffled Naruto’s hair. “The second we figure out that it is safe for you to do heavy lifting is the second he can go back to doing all the backbreaking work that you can dream of.”

Naruto grumbled a bit upon hearing that, but didn’t bother to argue with Kakashi about it. Kakashi was just glad that Naruto wasn’t going to be his usual stubborn self and was going to let Kakashi carry the bag. 

“Now grab your Pakkun key and let’s go.” Kakashi paused for a moment before he added “Why not bring the movie that Koyuki-san sent you along as well?”

“Really?”

“Sure, I have been meaning to watch it but I never got around to it. We could watch it together one of these nights while you are stuck at my house.” 

Naruto stared at him for a moment before he quickly snapped the movie and key up. 

“Alright!” The boy cheered. “I can’t wait to watch the movie with you Kakashi-sensei! It’s really great!” 

The boy kept chattering away about the movie as he made his way toward the door. Kakashi shook his head in amused fondness as he followed after the cheery blond. He wasn’t nearly into Princess Gale movies as much as Naruto was, but honestly that didn’t matter. If the subject made Naruto this happy and kept his mind off of his strange illness Kakashi was more than happy to listen to Naruto babble on about Princess Gale all day long…

\---------------------------------------------

When they reached Kakashi apartment it became rather apparent to Kakashi that he really wasn’t prepared for a sudden houseguest. He had a guestroom that he could easily move Naruto into. It had a bed and everything. The problem is that though the years Kakashi had turned the perfectly nice guest room into a storage room. The guestroom was rarely ever used. It had been used a few times by Yamato when he had left Root and they were trying to set up an apartment for him. However, other than that one time by Yamato the room was never used. Kakashi never really saw the point in keeping the room a guestroom. It’s not like he had any friends who lived outside of the village who would come to visit him and stay overnight at his house. The friends that he did have had homes of their own that they could return to. On the very rare occasion that a friend had to crash at someone else’s house for the night that friend usually already had something lined up so crashing at Kakashi’s house was not something that they had to do. 

Kakashi was fine with it. He liked his peace and quiet. It was due to all of these reasons that he always thought of just saying screw it and turning the guest room into something that he could actually use like a storage room. However, he never got around to doing so. When he wasn’t busy with missions he was training his team. When he wasn’t training his team he was practicing a new attack combination with his ninken, or just caring for the ninken in general by letting them have a lazy day in the house to sleep or eat some of their favorite foods in between playing and lazing around. When he wasn’t doing any of those things he was reading his books and using his day off to laze around the house fully intent to do nothing all day. Kakashi was sure that his younger self would be horrified to see how lazy his older self was on his days off. 

Kakashi had never really cared that the process to turn the guest room into a storage room was moving at a glacial pace. He wasn’t in any rush, and he thought he had all the time in the world to change it. However, now Kakashi couldn’t help but mentally wish he hadn’t left the room in a strange sort of limbo where it was halfway between a bedroom and a storage room. If he had never started the storage room thing then the room would have been all ready for Naruto to move right in. if he had actually completed the job then things would have been nicely organized and put away. All Kakashi would have to do then was move a few of the bigger objects and Naruto could move in without any problems. However, the room wasn’t either of those things. The room was a chaotic mess of things that Kakashi had never gotten around to organizing or putting away. Boxes filled to the brim with miscellaneous items ranging of training weights to romance novels littered the floor. As Kakashi proceeded to shove boxes into the closet he was all too aware of the fact that Naruto was leaning against the wall watching Kakashi scramble to put things away with a smirk on his face. 

“And you get on my case for being messy,” Naruto teased. 

After teasing Naruto about cleaning his own apartment Kakashi most certainly deserved that. 

With that said Kakashi couldn’t help but mutter “I always meant to turn this room into a storage room, but never really got around to finishing the job. You know too busy dealing with missions and training cute troublesome genin.” 

“Uh-huh,” Naruto said in a tone that suggested that he wasn’t too overly impressed with Kakashi’s excuses. 

Kakashi rolls his eyes, but rather than continue a conversation he knows he has no chance of winning he instead chooses to say “You can store your clothes in the chest of drawers by the bed. The draws should be empty.”

With a slight shrug of his shoulders Naruto unzipped the backpack that was leaning against the wall next to him and started unpacking. As he did so Kakashi tried to make a mental list of things that he needed to do. Honestly, he was woefully unprepared for Naruto’s stay with him. Besides the messy guest bedroom Kakashi knew that his kitchen was pretty much empty. The only thing in his fridge was a half a carton of orange juice and some eggplants. He had planned to go grocery shopping after his team had finished off their batch of D-Rank missions, but Naruto’s flower problem tossed that plan right out the window. A quick glance out the window showed that it was probably way too late to go out on a grocery run. It was already dark out, so most places were already closed.

_‘I’ll have to go grocery shopping tomorrow morning,’_ He thought.

Hopefully, he could go out and get the shopping done and brought back before Naruto woke up. He lived pretty close to the marketplace and the market opened rather early in the morning on weekends, so he should have enough time to swing by the memorial stone to pay his quick respects and get the food he needed before Naruto woke up and started complaining about being hungry. He could leave a few of his ninken behind to keep an eye on Naruto while he was gone just in case.

 _‘I should probably have a key to my apartment made for Naruto while I’m at it,’_ He thought. 

He wasn’t too overly fond of that idea. He didn’t like the idea of too many copies of his apartment key being out there and out of his control. Still, it had to be done. Kakashi planned to be by Naruto’s side during his mysterious illness, but anything could happen. If Kakashi got pulled away to handle some emergency mission or to deal with something Naruto would need a way to let himself in. Kakashi mentally sighed, but shook his head as if to rid himself of his thoughts. He trusted Naruto with his life, so he could trust the blond with a key to his home. As he shoved the last box into the closet he could hear Naruto zipping his backpack closed. It seemed they had finished their tasks at the same time. 

“Now what?” Naruto ask as he plopped down on the bed.

“We could go get dinner at Ichiraku Ramen,” Kakashi said with a slight shrug. “We never did get to eat lunch, and I don’t know about you but I am more than ready to eat.” 

Naruto brightened at the mention of his favorite restaurant. “Oh, yeah I am so ready to get some ramen!”

The boy’s smile faded a bit as he asked “But what about everyone else?”

“I’m pretty sure we are close to the time that we usually eat at, and we planned to eat at Ichiraku this Friday so they know to meet us there. Chances are we will just meet up with them there. I doubt the Hokage is going to have them work all day and night.” Kakashi gave Naruto a sidelong glance. “Of course if you want we can check the time and wait till it is the exact time to go if you really want.”

Right after Kakashi said that Naruto’s stomach chose that moment to let out a rather loud growling noise. Kakashi smirked upon hearing the noise and said “Although, it sounds like someone’s stomach doesn’t like that plan.”

“Let’s just go!” Naruto said as he hoped off of the bed. “I’m sure Sakura and Sai will meet up with us there!”

_‘Looks like the allure of ramen is too strong for him,’_ Kakashi thought with a bit of amusement as he followed the boy out of the apartment. 

It didn’t take them long to reach Ichiraku Ramen. 

The second they got there Naruto’s butt was in a seat and calling out “One bowl of Tonkotsu ramen please!”

“Coming right up!” Teuchi called out. “And you Kakashi-san?” 

“One bowl of miso ramen please,” Kakashi said as he slid into the seat next to Naruto. 

Teuchi nodded as he immediately went about making their bowls. Kakashi couldn't see Ayame anywhere, so he figured she was on one of her rare days off and bushed it off in favor of looking at Naruto. Naruto was full on grinning obviously eager to eat his favorite food at his favorite reastraunt. Kakashi couldn’t help but smile at his joy. It was cute how happy Naruto could be over such simple joys. The fact that Naruto could become so happy with such simple things really was one of the boy’s best features. It was hard to not be happy when he saw the boy’s joyful face. 

Kakashi’s thoughts about how cute Naruto looked when he was happy came to a halt when he heard Sakura’s voice call out “It figures you two are already here.”

Both he and Naruto turned toward the source of the noise only to see Sakura and Sai approaching them. They were not alone. Trailing behind the rest of Team Kakashi was Shikamaru, Ino, and Chōji.

“Shikamaru! Chōji! Ino! Are you joining us for dinner?” Naruto asked.

“I invited them,” Sakura said as she flopped down onto her seat. “We just finished our job for the Hokage and figured they were hungry.” 

“You don’t mind us joining do you?” Ino asked as she took her seat next to Sakura. “I know Friday is like your team dinner day.” 

“It’s fine,” Kakashi said. “I don’t mind.”

“I don’t mind either!” Naruto chirped out. “The more the merrier.” 

Ino and Chōji smiled upon hearing that, and Kakashi could see a smile briefly cross Shikamaru’s face but it faded away as quickly as it appeared. The urge to immediately ask if they had found anything that could help Naruto was strong, but somehow he was able to keep his mouth shut while everyone else made their orders. 

The second everyone had ordered their food and Teuchi disappeared into the back of the store to get something Kakashi asked “How did the search go?” 

The mood among them seemed to immediately fell immediately after he asked that.

“We didn’t find anything that spelled out exactly what was wrong with Naruto,” Shikamaru muttered.

“Didn’t really find much that could help out much either,” Chōji added. “Sai found a book on how to grow plants in inhospitable locations, and there were a few books on helping plant growth with jutsu but that was it.” 

That wasn’t news that Kakashi wanted to hear, but he couldn’t say he was surprised. The second Naruto started throwing up flowers Kakashi just knew that there would be no simple solution to this. Naruto’s smiled faded a bit upon hearing the news, but his smile came back when his ramen was placed in front of him. 

“Has Tsuande-sama told you what she found on her end?” Kakashi asked.

“She filled us in a bit when she dismissed us for the night,” Shikamaru said as he snapped his chopsticks apart. “She told us that the tests on the flowers came back normal. They couldn’t find anything strange about them.”

“She also filled me in on some of the test results done on Naruto. I’m supposed to go over the files tomorrow and she if I spot anything that she didn’t notice.” Sakura said. 

Shikamaru sighed a little before he glanced over at Kakashi. “The Hokage also said that Naruto threw up a few more flowers in the waiting room?” 

Kakashi nodded as he said “Yeah, orange and red pansy flowers.” 

Ino let out a small hum as she seemed to think over what Kakashi just said. 

After a few seconds has passed the girl smiled slightly as she said “Loving thoughts, love in idleness, and being considerate to one’s feelings or pain. Orange for joy and optimism. Red for romance.”

“Yet another flower that fits the theme,” Sai said thoughtfully. 

“Theme?” Kakashi echoed.

“It’s something Ino noticed when we were talking about the flowers that Naruto has coughed up,” Shikamaru explained. “Every single flower that Naruto has coughed up has been connected to love in one way or another. Like the red carnation flowers usually represent deep love while gardenia flowers represent a secret love or they can be used to tell someone that you are lovely.”

_‘Well, that’s strange,’_ Kakashi thought. 

He really didn’t know enough about flowers to even notice that every flower could be used to symbolize love in one way or another. While Kakashi thought that was interesting information outwardly he didn’t really have much of a reaction to that bit of info. Naruto had a very different reaction to the news. The second Shikamaru’s words registered in Naruto’s brain the boy started choking on the food that he had been inhaling. Naruto’s sputtering was so bad that when Teuchi stepped out of the back room he took one look at Naruto only to quickly get a glass of water for the poor boy. Naruto snatched the glass of water up the second he spotted it and downed the glass in record time.

“You know if you actually took your time when eating and didn’t scarf it all down like someone is about to take it away from you this wouldn’t happen,” Sakura scolded.

Naruto didn’t even react to that. He just finished off the glass of water and handed the empty glass back to Teuchi as he murmured his thanks to the man. 

“You alright?” The stand owner asked. 

Naruto only nodded in response. The man stares at Naruto for a few seconds before he looks over at Kakashi. The look the man was giving him just screamed ‘ _what the hell are you guys talking about?_ ’ 

Kakashi isn’t sure if he should answer that question or not. Teuchi and his daughter had known Naruto since he was a four years old. They watched the boy grow up, and out of everyone in the village they were probably the first to ever give the boy any ounce of kindness. They cared about their favorite customer deeply, and Kakashi was sure that Naruto felt the same. With that said Kakashi wasn’t sure if Naruto would really want his flower problem broadcasted to everyone in the village. Then again there was really no telling when Naruto would start coughing up flowers. 

Chances were high that Naruto could start coughing up petals one day while sitting there eating ramen. Hell, he could start coughing up petals in front of every random citizen in the village while just walking down the road. Short of locking Naruto up in Kakashi’s apartment there was really no way to keep a lid on Naruto’s flower problem for long. As tempting as it was to just keep Naruto hidden away it wasn’t feasible or fair to Naruto. Right now Naruto coughing fits while horrifying was about on par with the late Hayate’s illness. Concerning, but as long as it didn’t take a sudden horrible turn Naruto could continue living his life without too many problems. Even if Naruto could never be cured he could adjust to his condition and continue on with his usual high energy. 

**_‘Of course that is assuming he won’t get worse,_** ’ The more negative part of Kakashi’s brain just had to point out. **_‘If he gets worse he won’t exactly be able to achieve his dream of being Hokage if his flower issue makes it so that he can’t even be a ninja anymore.’_**

Kakashi tried his best to stop that train of thought before it could continue down its depressing path. There was no point thinking of the worst case scenario yet.

Somehow Kakashi is able to drag himself out of his thoughts when he hears Naruto tell Teuchi “Don’t worry. I’ll tell you all about it next time I come for ramen.” 

The man still looked a little concerned, but he just took Naruto at his word and went back to his work. As Teuchi fused over his boiling pots Naruto looked over at Ino. 

“Did all of the flowers really have a connection with love?” Naruto murmured. 

“Yep,” Ino confirmed. “Every single one of them.” 

Naruto looked thoughtful upon hearing that. He just stared down at his ramen bowl as he used his chopsticks to mindlessly push his noodles around. It was rather disconcerting to see Naruto like that. After seeing his simple joy earlier at getting ramen just get sucked away like this. It was downright odd to see Naruto seem so lost and almost uninterested in his ramen.

_‘Just what is he thinking about?’_ Kakashi wondered. 

He didn’t get to ponder over that question for long. 

Any thoughts about that had to be put on hold when Shikamaru asked “Do you think it means anything Kakashi-sensei?” 

“I don’t know,” Kakashi answered honestly. “I have a hard time believing that it means nothing. I’m not that knowable in the language of flowers, but I know that flowers can be used to represent a large verity of things. Love, happiness, death, friendship, and so many other things can be represented by flowers. The fact that Naruto has coughed up five types of flowers and every single one of them are connected to love is just a bit too much for me to brush it off as nothing.”

Kakashi sighed as he crossed his arms. “With that said we have so little information that I don’t want to say for sure that it means something.”

“We need more information before we can actually confirm anything,” Shikamaru said.

“We are going to talk to Ino’s dad tomorrow about the flowers and see if he can’t help,” Chōji quickly said.

Ino let out a soft sigh before she said “We were going to do it today, but he’s still out working and won’t be back home till real late.” 

“That’s not a bad idea,” Kakashi said with a slight nod of his head. “The Yamanaka Clan is one of the village’s oldest clan, and they have a long history with plants. Yamanaka clan members who don’t become ninjas usually become highly skilled botanists, herbalists, or specialist who create food pills or poisons from plants for Konohagakure ninja to use. Their family records are probably filled with centuries worth of records involving plants. There could be something in your family records that could point us in the right direction.”

The five of them seemed to look hopeful upon hearing that, but any cheer that was brought forth by that bit of hope died almost instantly. There small smiles faded away only to be replaced with looks of worry. 

For one split second Kakashi couldn’t figure out why their smiles had faded away so quickly, but the answer to that question hit him like a brick to the face when he heard Sai softly call out “Naruto?” 

Kakashi quickly turned away from them to look at Naruto who was sitting in the corner beside him. The boy was shivering like he had just been dunked into a tank of ice water and then shoved out into the middle of a snowstorm. His blue eyes stared down at the bowl of ramen in front of him. 

“Naruto?” Kakashi called out softly as he placed a hand on the boy’s back.

Naruto didn’t respond. Instead Kakashi could only watch as a few small white flowers tumbled out of his mouth and fell into the bowl of ramen. A week wheezing escaped from the boy’s mouth only to soon be followed up by a wave of flowers spilling out of his mouth. Chaos immediately erupted in the small ramen stand. Kakashi could hear what sounded like something glass falling onto the ground and being smashed into tiny pieces. He could hear everyone shouting, but the voices all blinded together into one giant mess of confusion, fear, and worry.

“What’s wrong with Naruto?! Why is he throwing up flowers!?”

“We don’t know what his problem is. This only started today and-“

“Kami, Shikamaru I know you said that it was horrifying to watch but I didn’t think it would be this-“

On and on it went, but Kakashi wasn’t really hearing any of it. He could only just sit there and watch as the flowers fell into the bowl in a never ending stream. Kakashi actually recognized the flowers that Naruto was coughing up. They were honeysuckle flowers. It was hard not to recognize him. Kakashi actually had a few fond memories involving the flower.

In his extraordinarily fuzzy memories of his young childhood before he was thrust into the life of a ninja he could remember his mother showing him how to best pick honeysuckle flowers so that he could taste the flower’s sweet nectar. He had only been four at the time so his memory of that moment was badly faded. He could not remember his mother’s face, and other then some vague memory that they had been on Hatake clan grounds Kakashi couldn’t remember exactly where the event took place. All he could remember was how his mother plucked the flowers from their stems, and her soft kind voice speaking about the nectar.

_Here try it Kakashi. The nectar is sweet, but not too sweet. I think you will like it._

It was one of the last things she did with him before she got sick and died. Besides his mother the flower also made him think of Rin. Kakashi knew that Rin had been rather fond of honeysuckles. She used them rather frequently when she was making food pills or medicines that they could use during missions. 

“Solider pills can end up tasting pretty bland at the best of times, and downright awful if you aren’t careful.” Kakashi remembered Rin saying once when he watched her make the food pills. “However, there are ways to offset the bad taste. Honeysuckle nectar and honey seem to do the best at making the pills taste good. Honeysuckle is just easier for me to work with while on the road so I tend to prefer it over honey.” 

Kakashi also remembered her rambling about using honeysuckle in cough medicines that she was making although Kakashi didn’t pay as much attention to that conversation as he had to the food pill conversation. She used honeysuckle so much that she started smelling like the flowers that she was so fond of. It was for these two reasons that Kakashi had some fondness for honeysuckle. The memories that the flower brought up were bittersweet, but in the end he found them more sweet then bitter.

Yet, at that moment it felt like any good feelings he had about the flower were going right down the drain as he watched someone that he cared so much for choke on the damn things. Kakashi reached out and placed a hand on the boy’s back. He could feel the boy tremble beneath his hand, and Kakashi couldn’t help but feel a sharp pain in his heart to see how badly this was affecting the blond. 

“Naruto,” Kakashi called out softly. 

The flowers continued to pour out of Naruto’s mouth with no sign of stopping, but the boy’s blue eyes moved so that they were now looking at Kakashi. Kakashi was just happy that the boy was still aware enough to look at him.

“Naruto it’s…” Kakashi started to say only to fall silent.

What could he honestly say?

It’s OK?

Nothing about this was OK.

You will be alright?

Much as Kakashi wanted to promise that he couldn’t do so because he really didn’t know if Naruto really _would_ be alright in the end. 

This will end soon?

He didn’t know if that was true. There was really no telling how long this latest attack would last. 

In the end Kakashi could only say the one thing that was true.

“I’m here with you,” Kakashi said softly. “I’m here and I’m not leaving your side.” 

It wasn’t much, but he hoped that it would bring some small comfort to Naruto. Somehow through his wheezing and trembling Naruto was able to lift a hand up and reach out toward Kakashi. Without even thinking Kakashi reached out and grabbed his hand. That seemed to be the right thing to do because Naruto immediately wrapped his hand around Kakashi’s and he clung to the silver haired man’s hand like his life depended on it. In fact, he was holding Kakashi’s hand so tightly that Kakashi honestly wouldn’t be surprised if Naruto ended up bruising it. Kakashi really didn’t care. If it brought Naruto a bit of comfort Kakashi would let Naruto squeeze his hand to the point of breaking bone without uttering even a single complaint. He felt powerless as he sat there watched the flowers fall. Kakashi of the Sharingan, Copycat Ninja who knew a thousand jutsu, ex-ANBU captain of the great Konohagakure couldn’t do a damn thing to help the person he loved most. All he could do was sit there and watch. 

There was a small tiny bit of relief at the fact that Naruto didn’t seem to be coughing up any blood. Still, that felt more like cold comfort then anything else. This latest attack seemed a bit worse than the last one. The sheer amount of flowers that were spilling forth was a bit alarming. The fact that it honestly was a never ending stream of flowers was also worrying. There was no telling why so many flowers were falling without even the slightest bit of a pause. Maybe it was a sign that it was getting worse, or maybe it was only because the flowers were so small and therefore it was much easier to just cough out a whole bunch of them at once. Kakashi didn’t know, and at that moment he really didn’t care. All he wanted was for it to end. After what felt like hours although it was really only three or four minutes at most the almost never ending waterfall of honeysuckle finally came to a merciful stop. 

Once the flowers stopped Naruto slumped in his seat as he tried to take in some much needed air. The area around Naruto was a disaster zone. The bowl of ramen that had been sitting in front of Naruto had been filled to the brim with honeysuckle flowers. The flowers had overflowed to the point that they started to spill out of the bowl and cover the counter. There were enough honeysuckle lying around that Kakashi could smell the scent of the flowers over the usual smells of the ramen stand. It was a smell that he usually liked although right now the smell of honeysuckle just made him feel a little sick to his stomach. It was quiet in the ramen stand for a few sounds. Everyone’s panicked chattering had fallen silent once the flowers stopped falling. The only sound that could be heard was Naruto’s heavy breathing. 

Eventually Ino broke the silence by murmuring “Honeysuckle. Bonds of love and devoted affection.” 

The girl didn’t seem to even realize that she had said that out loud. She was just sitting there staring at the flowers in worried confusion. Kakashi could not help but find it rather darkly funny how a flower that apparently represented such lovely things only brought them terror and pain.

When Naruto seemed to have caught his breath he looked at Kakashi and weakly called out “Kakashi?” 

Kakashi could have sworn he felt his heart start to break bit upon hearing how weak Naruto’s voice sounded. Kakashi never wanted to hear Naruto’s normally happy and loud voice sound so sad and fragile.

“Yes, Naruto?” Kakashi said.

“That sucked,” Naruto murmured.

Kakashi couldn’t even crack a slight smile at Naruto’s rather blunt statement. Instead, all he could do was squeeze the boy’s hand in a pathetic attempt at comfort as he said the only thing that he could say to that statement.

“I know it did Naruto. I know it did...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wanted to get this posted up on Kakashi's birthday, but I wasn't able to finish the chapter in time. Oh well. 
> 
> Anyway...
> 
> Honeysuckle flower- Bonds of love, devoted affection.
> 
> On a rather sweet note people apparently used to believe that if honeysuckle is brought into the house when it’s in bloom, a wedding will soon take place in that household.
> 
> These days a lot of herbal based cough medications have honeysuckle ingredients mixed in them.
> 
> With the cough medication thing in mind I thought it was rather fitting to use the flower due to Naruto's coughing up flowers problem. 
> 
> Also, I couldn't help but have Kakashi ramble about fond memories of honeysuckle. I only picked honeysuckle two of three times in my life, but I have fond memories of being a child hanging out with my friends picking a few honeysuckle flowers to eat the nectar.


	7. Pink Begonia

Naruto was exhausted. His throat hurt from coughing up so many flowers, his chest ached from his struggle to breathe through the sheer number of flowers that had filled his mouth, and desire to just close his eyes and get some much needed sleep was rather strong. Yet, his racing mind would not let him rest. It refused to forget what Shikamaru had said about the flowers that he had been coughing up all day today. 

_Every single flower that Naruto has coughed up has been connected to love in one way or another._

Everyone was sort of on the fence over if it meant anything or not, but Naruto wanted to believe it was nothing but a coincidence. It meant nothing. It meant absolutely nothing. Yet, no matter how much Naruto tried to convince himself of that he could not believe it. There was no way that it was a coincidence. A few seconds after he figured out that he was actually in love with someone he starts coughing up flowers that are connected to love. The second he started to think about how much he wanted to tell Kakashi he was lovely, but just could not spit out the words he ended up coughing up a flower that could be used to say ‘you are lovely’. There was no freaking way it was just a coincidence. 

_‘What is wrong with me?’_ Naruto thought. 

If this really was connected to love then why hadn’t he ever coughed up flowers back when he had a crush on Sakura? Should he say something about this? How would he even start to explain his thoughts? He sure as hell wasn’t going to look Kakashi in the eye and say out loud for everyone to hear _‘Hey, I think I might be coughing up flowers because I am in love with you’_.

Naruto couldn’t help but mentally groan in frustration. He couldn’t think straight. His mind could barely focus over his panic at just what exactly the flowers could mean combined with his complete exhaustion that wanted nothing more than to drag him into the land of dreams. Only the feeling of Kakashi’s wand wrapped around his own kept him at least somewhat grounded. Naruto tries his best to focus on the feeling of having Kakashi’s hand wrapped around his own just to keep his mind busy.

It’s surprisingly easy to do. Naruto was a bit surprised to find out that his hands were actually rather soft. He could feel a few calluses on Kakashi’s fingers that spoke of the thousands of battles that he had participated in, but for the most part the man’s hands were rather soft. Honestly, maybe that really shouldn’t have been all that surprising. 

According to Kakashi he had taken to wearing gloves that completely covered his hands for a pretty good chunk of his life as a ninja. He didn’t really wear full gloves these days, but he always wore those fingerless gloves of his. The gloves had probably protected Kakashi’s hands through the years from the really serious wear and tear. That and maybe Kakashi used a really good lotion to keep them soft, but honestly if Kakashi did do that Naruto seriously doubted that the man would admit to it. Besides how soft the man’s hands were Naruto also couldn’t help but notice how warm they were. It was a bit surprising really. Naruto always figured Kakashi would be a bit on the colder side when it came to body heat. Yet, his hands were so warm.

 _‘Is the rest of him warm like this?’_ He thought. 

Naruto was almost tempted give into his exhaustion to cuddle up against Kakashi and just to find out. 

“Naruto?” Kakashi called out softly. 

He seemed to be getting a bit worried over the fact that Naruto was staying quiet for so long.

“Have your hands always been so warm?” Naruto asked out loud without really thinking.

His mind was just enough of a mess at the moment that he didn’t feel embarrassed asking such a question. Kakashi stared at him for a moment before he looked back at everyone else that was at the ramen stand. “I’m taking Naruto home. I think the coughing fit took more out of him then any of us realized.” Kakashi only received a few nods in return. 

Sakura hopped off of her stool to say “I’m going to tell Tsunade-sama what happened. She’ll want to know about it, and I need to add this to Naruto’s medical file.”

The pink haired girl raced off before anyone could say anything about her plan.

Shikamaru sighed as he looked over at Ino. “Ino, can you go on home and start making that list of flowers and their meanings? Chōji and I will stay here and help Teuchi clean up the mess and pay for the food.”

“But what is-“ Teuchi started to say only to stop when Shikamaru shook his head. 

“I’ll explain as we clean up.” The Nara said. 

Teuchi sighed, but accepted that he would be getting answers to exactly what was wrong with his favorite customer. Obviously satisfied that everything would be OK there Kakashi turned his attention onto Naruto. Kakashi let go of Naruto’s hand and the boy let out a small noise of displeasure at the loss of warmth without even meaning to. Mercifully Kakashi didn’t comment on the noise. 

“If I carried you on my back would you have enough energy to hang on?”

“Too tired,” Was Naruto’s exhausted reply to that. 

“Right,” Kakashi said with a soft sigh. “Looks like I’m carrying you home.” 

That was the only warning that Naruto got. One second he was slumped on the stool about to face plant into the bowl full of flowers in front of him due to exhaustion, and the next second he was in Kakashi’s arms being held like a bride that Kakashi was about to carry over the threshold. For a brief few seconds Naruto was shocked that Kakashi was carrying him bridal style, but his exhausted mess of a brain was content to chuck his shock right out the door in order to just enjoy the moment.

Naruto snuggled up against Kakashi once he was in Kakashi’s arms. Kakashi was so warm. Naruto tightly gripped the man’s vest as he placed his head on Kakashi’s chest. He could hear Kakashi’s heart steadily pounding away. It was a soothing sound, and a small sound of contentment escaped from Naruto just by hearing it. He could have just sat back and enjoyed the moment, but that little negative voice in the back of his head could never let him sit back and enjoy it.

**_‘It’s too bad that the only way you could get him to hold you like this is by barfing up a ton of flowers,’_ **

Naruto frowned at that thought, but that rather negative thought was forgotten about when Kakashi started to move. When he stepped out of the stand and onto the road Naruto could see that a few people had gathered around the ramen stand trying to figure out what the commotion had been about. It was late enough at night that there were not that many people gathered around, but the four or five people that were around still felt like too much. Kakashi didn’t even acknowledge the small crowd that was slowly forming around the ramen stand. He just tightened his hold on Naruto and hoped up to the rooftops and started to make his way back to the apartment via rooftops.

As he ran he looked down at Naruto and asked “You doing alright? Traveling this way isn’t causing any problems is it?”

Instead of answering any of those questions Naruto only murmured “I didn’t get my free bowl of ramen from you.”

A soft chuckle escaped from Kakashi’s mouth only to quickly be followed up by him saying “I promise that I will buy you two bowls of ramen to make up for it next time we go out.”

“I’m holding you to that,” Naruto murmured. 

The rest of the trip was silent, but honestly Naruto and Kakashi didn’t have much time to say anything to each other. At the speed that Kakashi was going at they had reached his apartment in record time. Kakashi carried Naruto all the way back to the guestroom and dropped him off in his bed. He even pulled the sheets up and tucked Naruto in.

“Get some sleep Naruto,” The man said softly. 

However, before he could step away from the bed Naruto’s hand shot out and grabbed his wrist.

“Stay,” Naruto said softly.

“You need to get some rest. You look like you are about to pass out at any second.” Kakashi told him.

“I know,” Naruto muttered. “But I can’t sleep. My mind is racing too much.”

Kakashi was silent for a moment before he sat down on the bed next to Naruto. “And you think my presence would help, hm?”

Naruto relaxed a bit when Kakashi sat down and leaned back against the headboard, but he didn’t let go of Kakashi’s wrist. It was silly, but he felt like if he let go Kakashi would just go away.

“I don’t know,” Naruto said softly. “I think you could.”

A small grin formed on Naruto’s face as he said “I never got any of my Friday stories today.” 

Kakashi let out a soft sound of amusement upon hearing that.

“Need a story to sleep, huh?”

“I just need something to distract me,” Naruto mumbled. 

Kakashi let out a small hum as he sat there and seemed to think for a moment. 

“Do you remember my always late teammate?” Kakashi eventually asked. 

“Goggles the Uchiha?” Naruto asked. 

It wasn’t the boy’s actual name obviously, but Kakashi had never really said any of his old teammates names. While a little aggravating Naruto lived with it. Kakashi would say their names when he was ready to. Kakashi had described them with so much detail that by now Naruto sometimes felt like he actually did know them, and so Naruto had given them all nicknames. The boy who was always late always wore these orange goggles so Naruto just started to refer to him as Goggles. He knew that Goggles was also the one who gave Kakashi his Sharingan eye, but Kakashi never shared the story of how that happened. Considering the fact that the boy had to give his eye up already implied that it wasn’t a happy story, so Naruto wasn’t going to push for that story. He couldn’t bring himself to just call the boy Uchiha either since that name made him think a bit too much about Sasuke so Goggles just became the name that stuck.

The kind girl who dreamed of becoming a great medic-nin was Blossom because she had a talent in taking plants and flowers and turning them into useful healing items. Kakashi's Jōnin sensei was just called Sunny because according to Kakashi he was always cheerful and kind. Apparently Sunny was also one of the fastest ninja that the Leaf Village had ever had, but Kakashi never really elaborated much on that. 

Kakashi chuckled a bit upon hearing the moniker that Naruto had stuck his old teammate with. For some reason Kakashi found the nicknames that Naruto had stuck his old team with rather entertaining.

“Yes, I’m talking about him,” Kakashi said. “You remember how he was always late because he just had to help any elderly person or young child that he came across?”

“I remember. He was always stuck helping old ladies carry their groceries home, or helping kids get their cats out of trees.” 

“Yep,” Kakashi said with a slight nod of his head. “I think after a while the elderly people would actually seek him out to help them with their chores because they knew he would always agree.”

Kakashi shook his head slightly as if to shake that particular thought out of his head.

“Anyway, while most of his excuses were realistic some of them were a bit…. Out there.”

“Out there?” 

“I got the lost on the road of life thing from him.” 

“For real?” Naruto said as a small smile appeared on his face. “That is like one of the first excuses that you ever gave us.” 

“I think that was his only excuse that was rather bad. However, it was nowhere near his strangest excuse.”

“What was his strangest excuse?”

Naruto could just see the shape of Kakashi’s smirk take shape under his mask as he said “I’m sorry I was late, but I got caught up trying to avoid getting trampled by a horde of angry women chasing a white haired guy. Just when I thought I got away the white haired guy caught me and roped me into helping him get his manuscript for his next great book back from an angry talking toad.” 

“Oh, don’t tell me…”

“Yep, he ran into Jiraiya and somehow he had to help him get his manuscript for one of his Icha Icha books back from a very angry toad,” Kakashi said. “It’s funny really. We never believed his more outrageous excuses, but usually an hour or so later we would find out that his crazy excuses were actually true.”

“Please tell me you have the full story of Goggles' encounter with Jiraiya.”

Kakashi sounded very amused as he said “Oh, I got the full story.”

With that said Kakashi immediately started telling the tale of how the poor Uchiha got stuck helping the Pervy Sage get his manuscript for Icha Icha Paradise back from a toad who wasn’t too happy about the fact that Jiraiya had originally used it to try and escape from a bunch of women who caught the pervert peeping on them at the bathhouse. It was probably the most entertaining story that Naruto had heard in a long time. It helped to calm Naruto’s racing mind, and by the time Kakashi finished his tale Naruto was only a few seconds away from falling into the land of dreams.

“Hey Kakashi,” Naruto murmured sleepily.

“Yes, Naruto?” 

“Thanks,” Naruto whispered as he shut his eyes. 

Kakashi’s soft chuckle filled the air and soon Naruto felt Kakashi gently run his fingers through Naruto’s hair. Just before Naruto drifted to sleep he heard Kakashi say “Anytime, Naruto. Anytime…”

\------------------------------------------

 

The sound of an alarm clock going off was what woke Kakashi up at the crack of dawn. The silver haired man grumbled slightly as he pulled his pillow over his head and tried his best to ignore that aggravating ringing sound. Of course that did little to actually block out the noise, and after a good minute or two of trying to ignore it the man finally had to give up and actually sit up to turn the stupid thing off. Once the aggravating ringing was finally silenced Kakashi sat there and stared at the clock that proudly stated that it was five in the morning. The man was standing on the border of sleep and wakefulness, so it was safe to say that his brain wasn’t really running normally at the moment. 

_‘Why did I set this again?’_ The man thought as he stared at the clock. 

Kakashi rarely set his clock. Kakashi was late to almost everything, and everyone knew that about him. Being the perpetually late man that he was meant that he could usually sleep in and therefore didn’t need an alarm clock. However, sometimes an urgent mission required him to actually wake up early in the morning and those rare early missions required him to get an alarm clock. However, he was pretty sure he didn’t have any important missions today and he especially didn’t remember anything that required him to wake up at five in the freaking morning. He sat there for a few minutes while his tired brain tried to think of just why he couldn’t just flop back down on the bed and fall back to sleep, but after a few seconds had passed the wires in his brain finally connected and all of his memories from last night came rolling back. 

It was a bittersweet moment. Remembering seeing Naruto’s grin upon hearing a story of Obito’s unfortunate run-in with Jiraiya was a memory to treasure as was seeing the boy’s happy peaceful look as he drifted off to sleep. However, Kakashi could honestly do without the memory of Naruto choking on one of Kakashi’s favorite flowers. Kakashi sighed before he slid off of the bed. At any rate he remembered why he had set the clock for so early in the morning. He wanted to have enough time to drop by the Memorial Stone for his daily visit before he went on a quick grocery run. 

Kakashi quickly got dressed and left his room only to stop when he reached Naruto’s boy. He quietly opened the door and poked his head in only to see that the blond was still fast asleep and he didn’t seem to be troubled or anything like that. Satisfied that Naruto was fine for the moment Kakashi silently walked away and made his way into the living room. Once he was there he wasted no time in summing two of his ninken. He already knew exactly who he wanted to summon. 

The second the smoke from the summoning vanished Kakashi said “Good morning Pakkun. Morning Bisuke.”

“A bit too early if you ask me,” Bisuke grumbled as he scratched his ear with his back leg.

“Yeah, what is up with the early morning call Kakashi?” Pakkun asked.

“I got a job for you two,” Kakashi said.

The two dogs became serious upon hearing that. 

“What’s the job?” Bisuke asked. 

“I need you to stay here and watch over Naruto. He’s sleeping in the guest room right now.” 

Both of the ninken looked a bit concerned upon hearing that. The ninken in general liked Naruto, and it helped that they knew that Kakashi was more than a little fond of Naruto. So to hear that the energetic kid was sick actually worried them. 

“Is he OK?” Pakkun asked. “Last I heard your team was stuck doing D-Rank missions for a week or so. Not exactly something that should cause any trouble.”

Kakashi let out a soft sigh and then said “Naruto is sick. Sick enough that he can’t be home alone.”

“What is he sick with?” Bisuke asked.

“We don’t know. We have people working on figuring out what is wrong with him, but so far we haven’t come up with anything solid.” 

“What are his symptoms?” Pakkun asked. 

“He’s coughing up flowers,” Kakashi answered. 

Both dogs just stared at him obviously unsure of how to react to that. What he just said sounded ridicules. Yet, Kakashi’s serious look combined with an equally serious tone of voice made it very clear that he was not joking.

“How bad is it?” Pakkun eventually asked. 

“Bad,” Kakashi answered as grabbed his keys. “When he’s coughing up flowers it looks and sounds like he is choking on them. He freezes up when an attack happens and he can’t move from his spot. The most he can do is reach out to grab my hand, or just cup his hands over his mouth.” 

“What sort of flowers is he coughing up?” Bisuke asked.

“Gardenias, azalea flowers, and a few others. Last night he coughed up a bunch of honeysuckle flowers.” A dark look appeared on Kakashi face at the mention of honeysuckle flowers. “The honeysuckle one was his worst. When it was finally over his energy was gone. Ended up having to carry him home.”

“You just want us to watch him?” Bisuke asked. 

The dog had already stated to make his way toward Naruto’s room once Kakashi mentioned how bad the honeysuckle attack was, but he had paused for a moment to ask Kakashi exactly what he wanted.

“Yes, just keep an eye on him. If he coughs up flowers just stay by his side so he won’t be alone. If he coughs up anything else one of you needs to stay with him while the other goes and gets Tsunade-sama.” 

“Got it,” Bisuke said before he continued on his way to Naruto’s room. 

Once Bisuke was gone Pakkun looked over at Kakashi and asked “How long will you be gone?” 

“Not too long,” Kakashi answered as he slipped his shoes on. “Maybe an hour at most. I need to pick up some groceries and drop by the memorial stone to pay my quick respects.”

“Alright,” The little pug says with a slight nod of his head. 

The dog says nothing more although it is clear he wants to ask more questions. However, Kakashi really doesn’t know much more than that. Kakashi watches as the dog as he saunters off to join Bisuke. The second the pug is gone from view Kakashi lets out a soft sigh before he slips out the front door. Upon stepping outside, he quickly made his way toward the Memorial Stone. He gets there pretty quickly although that wasn’t surprising. Kakashi had been visiting the stone so many times now that he could get to the place in a matter of seconds while blindfolded. Upon reaching the familiar stone Kakashi reaches his hand out and runs it over the carved name that still caused his heart to ache every time he saw it. 

“Hello Obito,”

His fingers slowly trail away from Obito’s name and over the hundreds of names that were carved onto the cold stone until it finally lands on the name he was looking for.

“Hello Rin,” He murmurs before he moves his hand down to the names that were below Rin’s name. 

“Hello Minato-sensei,” He whispers. “Hello Kushina.” 

If Kakashi closed his eyes he could almost picture everyone standing in front of him instead of the cold unforgiving Memorial Stone. He could see Rin’s kind smile, and Obito’s confidant smile. He could see Kushina’s large joyful grin and long red hair fluttering in the breeze. He could easily picture Minato-sensei’s gentle smile and his sky blue eyes. Kakashi sighed as he left his hand fall to his side.

“Naruto’s sick,” He said softly. “Of course you probably already know that. I’m sure you all have been watching over us from the afterlife.” 

He was silent for a moment before he said “We don’t know what is wrong with him, but Tsunade-sama and many others are working on figuring out what is wrong. If anyone can solve a medical mystery it would be here.”

 _‘At least I hope she can solve this medical mystery,’_ Kakashi thought although he didn’t dare to say that out loud. 

“I can’t help heal him. I never had the right skills or interest to be a medic-nin, but I promise I’ll stay by Naruto’s side so he won’t be alone during his time of need.” Kakashi promised. 

Minato and Kushina would have probably appreciated and wanted Kakashi to help their child out during such a hard time, but honestly he would have stayed by Naruto’s side regardless of if they would have appreciated it or not. Kakashi cared way too much about Naruto to just stand by the sidelines and do nothing.

_‘Of course there really isn’t much you can do to help,’_ The pessimistic part of Kakashi’s brain chimed in. 

Kakashi cringed a bit at that thought. There really wasn’t much that Kakashi could do. Kakashi was no medic-nin. He didn’t have the mindset or patience to be a medic-nin. The man could fight enemy ninjas all day long without blinking an eye, but when it came to actually helping an injured loved one he was helpless.

 **_‘Useless,’_** That negative part of him hissed. _**‘When it comes to actually helping your loved ones in their time of need you are always useless.’**_

Kakashi was quick to shove those thoughts away before they could continue. Maybe Kakashi couldn’t help much when it came to curing Naruto but he could at least be there by Naruto’s side. He could the boy’s hand while he coughed up flowers and make sure that Naruto would know that he would not be alone while he suffered. He could tell Naruto all the stories that he wanted to hear when he was up late at night unable to sleep because he was worrying over his flower condition. He could sit there and listen to Naruto vent for as long as he needed. Maybe it wasn’t much, but Kakashi had learned a long time ago that sometimes just having someone there by your side during your worst moments helped more than words could really express. Just having someone there who cared could be enough to keep you from sliding into despair and staying there. 

Naruto was stubborn enough that he would probably survive this flower thing through bullheadedness alone, but knowing that someone would be there with him and stay with him no matter how bad it got would probably help. Kakashi hated seeing Naruto suffer so much, but he wouldn’t run away from it. Naruto needed him, so he would be there. Kakashi let out a soft sigh as he ran a hand through his wild silver hair. He had come here to give everyone a brief update on how Naruto was doing and instead he was sitting here getting lost in his own thoughts. Chances Kushina and his old team probably didn’t mind. Kakashi tended to get lost in thought every time he came to visit them at the Memorial Stone. What he was doing now wasn’t exactly anything new.

A small crooked smile forced its way onto his face as he said “I’m sorry I can’t stay to talk more, but if I want to make sure Naruto actually gets fed today I better get a move on.” 

A soft breeze ruffled his hair after he said that and Kakashi can’t help but smile just a bit upon feeling it. Feeling the wind ruffle his hair reminded him just a bit of how Minato-sensei had a habit of ruffling his student’s hair in fond affection rather often. It was a habit that Kakashi had picked up himself. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura had grumbled about their sensei’s habit of ruffling their hair a bit although they never rejected their teacher’s small gesture of affection. Feeling the wind now Kakashi liked to imagine even just for a moment that it was Minato’s way of saying that he didn’t mind that Kakashi couldn’t visit for long.

Although, really none of his loved ones would have minded him cutting the visit short. If they had been here Kakashi knew that they would be helping him care for Naruto in their own ways, and they would be worrying over the boy just as much as Kakashi was. Kushina would probably be cooking like a mad woman to make whatever she thought could help Naruto feel a bit better while Minato would be jumping from helping Kushina to fretting over Naruto’s bedside. Rin would be reading every medical books she could get her hands on so that she could find something that could help while Obito would be rushing around in the background doing whatever little jobs that he could to help out. Kakashi felt a small stab of amusement at that thought. Honestly, Naruto would probably be a bit overwhelmed by having so many people worrying over him like that.

Of course Kakashi’s smile faded when the man remembered that they could never worry over Naruto like that. The chance for them to love and worry over Naruto like that had been cruelly ripped away from them. Naruto would never know what it is like to have parents or siblings love and worry over him like that. Kakashi sighed as he shook his head. His mind was already heading down the depressing path that is always took whenever he came to the Memorial Stone. Usually he had the free time to wallow in his painful memories, but he didn’t have that sort of time. He had a blond haired knucklehead to take care of and the last thing that Naruto needed was for Kakashi to be late or lost in sad memories. Kakashi gave the stone one final look before he finally turned away and rushed off to finally get the much needed groceries. 

Kakashi’s shopping trip passed pretty quickly. He knew exactly what he needed to get, and his desire to get home fast meant that he didn’t allow himself to poke around too much. He had been so quick in fact that he had just enough time to stop by a locksmith’s shop to get a key made for Naruto. Kakashi hadn’t really been thinking about much as he waited for the key to be made. However, as his eyes wandered around the small store he couldn’t help but notice a bunch of keychains that were for sale.

There was quiet a large selection of keychains. There were a few that were based off of the slugs that Tsunade summoned, and he could some keychains based off of the toad summons that Jiraiya was famous for using. There were a few keychains that were just generic animals like rabbits or cats. However, among all of the rabbits, slugs, and toads was a single keychain that caught Kakashi’s attention. It was of a dog wearing a blue vest and a Leaf Village headband. While the dog didn’t have his symbol on the vest or anything on its forehead Kakashi couldn’t get over the fact that the keychain looked exactly like Bisuke. 

“Hatake-san?” 

Kakashi looked up from the collection of keychains to see that the shop owner had finished making the key. “Your key is complete. Was that all that you wanted to buy today?” The shop owner asked. 

“There was one other thing that I wanted to buy,” Kakashi said as he grabbed the dog keychain and placed it down next to the cash register.

The man looked at the keychain for a moment before he shrugged slightly and started to ring up Kakashi’s purchase. 

“You collect keychains?” The man asked.

“No,” Kakashi answered as he handed over the money that he owed for the key and keychain. “I don’t really collect them, but I know someone who would appreciate this keychain.” 

The man didn’t say much to that which was fine with Kakashi. He didn’t really want to start explaining how he had decided the second that he saw the Bisuke keychain he couldn’t help but think it would be a fine addition to Naruto’s Pakkun keychain. Also, deep down in Kakashi’s mind a small part of him liked the idea of Naruto having lots of things that would remind Naruto of Kakashi. However, that last bit of info he couldn’t really admit to himself much less to a stranger. 

Kakashi picked up the key and keychain. As he held the small dog keychain the man couldn’t help but smile just a little. It wasn’t much, but he hoped that maybe just maybe the keychain and a homemade breakfast from Kakashi would be enough to help make Naruto’s morning a nice one. After last night Naruto deserved a nice happy morning. Shaking his thoughts off Kakashi quickly gathered his things and started to make his way back home. With any luck he would get home and have breakfast ready to go by the time Naruto woke up....

\----------------------------------------

**“What the hell is wrong with you?”**

The words echo around Naruto as he opens his eyes only to see that he was standing before the Kyuubi’s large cage. For a split second Naruto was a bit confused to see the fox staring down at him. The last thing he remembered was hearing Kakashi’s soothing voice as he drifted off to sleep. 

_‘The fox must have dragged me in here while I was dreaming,’_ Naruto thought. 

How the hell the fox was able to do such a thing Naruto really didn’t know. The fox had the ability to mentally drag Naruto to this place where he was locked away whenever the desire to do so struck his fancy regardless of if Naruto was awake or asleep. Luckily, the fox rarely did so. The few times Naruto had been dragged into this miserable part of his Inner Mind was when they were in a life or death scenario that required the fox’s power to survive. Other than that the fox usually stuck to just speaking in Naruto’s head to either trying to convince Naruto to give into his anger so that the fox could take advantage of it and make him lose control, or to make a snarky comment.

At any rate Naruto never really liked coming here to see the fox locked away. Since he usually only came here when his life was in danger he didn’t exactly have nice memories connected to the place. He also had to admit he felt the smallest bit of sympathy for the fox being locked away in this cold dingy place. Of course that sympathy sort of faded away when the fox would insult him or scream about how he would one day break free and destroy the Leaf Village. Still, Naruto could never completely get rid of his feelings of sympathy. If he had been forcibly locked away against his will for only who knows how many years by some village Naruto figured he would be just as angry.

Naruto shoved his thoughts about the fox’s possibly justified anger away in favor of looking at the fox. The fox was just staring down at Naruto in silence. The intensity of the Kyuubi’s stare was strong enough to make even the strongest of ninja flinch back a bit in fear. Maybe once it would have affected Naruto, but Naruto had interacted with the fox just enough that his harsh stares no longer scared him. There were other things about the fox that were much more terrifying. 

_Like the fox’s ability to make Naruto lose complete control when his anger got the best of him and_ -

Naruto cut that thought off before it could continue. He stares up at the fox and frowns when he sees the expression that the beast is wearing. Whenever Naruto interacted with the fox the tailed beast either looked incredibly smug and acted like he was better than everyone else, or he was glaring at Naruto with hate filled eyes that burned with such intense heat that sometimes Naruto was surprised that the fox wasn’t able to set him on fire from the glare alone. However, this time the fox didn’t look angry or smug. He looked slightly confused as he stared down Naruto. 

Naruto scowled at the fox as he asked “What are you talking about you dumb fox?” 

**“Don’t play stupid with me boy,”** The fox says as his tails lash about behind him. **“I am talking about your sudden flower problem.”**

Naruto tensed up a bit upon hearing the fox’s words only to quickly relax. He had wanted to talk to the fox about his condition, and it seemed like the fox at least wanted to talk about it if he had gone to the trouble to pull Naruto into this place. Although, the fact that the very first thing the fox said to Naruto was him asking just what was wrong with the boy heavily implied that the fox didn’t really have any idea what was wrong with him. That didn’t bold well for Naruto. 

Still, Naruto put on a brave face as he asked “You don’t know what the cause of the flowers are?” 

**“Fool, if I knew the source of this problem do you think I would be asking you about it?!”** The Fox snarled out. 

The fox’s tailed flailed around widely in rage as the fox hissed out **“If you die I die with you, and I refuse to die because you went and choked on a bunch of flowers!”**

The fox let out a loud huff of annoyance as he pointed at the bars of his cage.

**“Already your disease is starting to affect this place.”**

Naruto looked at what the fox was pointing at only to frown. He hadn’t notice it earlier due to having all of his attention on the fox, but now that he was looking at it he was honestly surprised that it had to have the fox point it out to him at all. There wrapped around the bars of the cage were thick green vines. The vines didn’t go up very high. They only went up to Naruto’s knees. However, while the height of the vines was not all that impressive the flowers that grew on the vines were rather concerning. On the vines Naruto could see red carnations, large gardenia flowers, dark pink azalea flowers, orange and red pansy flowers, and a whole lot of honeysuckle flowers. 

**“The vines started appearing right after you coughed up the carnation flower,”** The fox explained. **“Every time you cough up a new flower the flower soon appears on the vines.”**

“Why?” Naruto asked. 

The fox just gave Naruto a look that screamed _‘How the hell should I know?’_

“Is…. Is Hiruko responsible for this?”

**“No,”** The fox answered immediately. **“I think whatever this is that is affecting you has been here for a long time. It has just been dormant until now.”**

“For how long have I had this?” Naruto asked.

 **“Who knows?”** The fox said with a slight shrug of his shoulders. **“Weeks, months, years? For all we know you could have gotten this disease the day you were born.”**

Naruto shot the fox a week glare upon hearing that while the fox just gave him an unimpressed look in return.

**“Before you even ask I’m going to stop any idiotic ideas that you might possibly have about this being my fault. Whatever is affecting you is not due to your statues as my jailer. No jailer of mine has ever suffered from such a strange affliction.”**

Naruto let out a soft sound of irritation upon hearing that. This meeting wasn’t going in the direction that Naruto was hoping it would. He was hoping that if he was able to talk to the fox then the beast would be able to shine a light on just what was going on. Granted, he didn’t think the fox would give information easily but he figured that the fox’s desire to not die would be enough to make him spill the beans eventually. Well, the fox was talking but he wasn’t helping out too much. All that Naruto had been able to figure out here was that Hiruko didn’t have anything to do with his problem, and for all he knew he could have actually had this problem from the day he was born. 

_‘Because it wasn’t enough that I got the fox sealed in me I also might have had this problem from day one too?’_ Naruto thought bitterly. The blond sighs as he runs a hand through his hair. 

“Well, what the hell could cause this? Some jutsu? A seal?” The boy started to pace back and forth. “Are more flowers going to grow around the bars of your cage?”

 **“Probably,”** The fox commented. **“Unfortunately, I don’t think the vines will disrupt the seal on my cage at all.”**

Naruto decided to not acknowledge that little comment. Instead he stopped pacing to glare up at the fox. The fox had his head lying in the palm of his clawed hand all while looking at Naruto with a bored expression on his face.

“You know you could at least help me figure out exactly what is causing this.” 

**“Why would I do that when watching you burn yourself out while trying to figure it out is so much more fun?”** The fox asked as a mocking smirk appeared on the fox’s face.

“You were the one complaining that you didn’t want to die due to me chocking on flowers,” Naruto snapped. “Well, if you don’t want that to happen then you better help me figure this out!”

The fox grumbled something under his breath, but after a few seconds had passed by the fox finally started to actually help. 

**“If I had to hazard a guess I’m pretty sure you are being affected by a type of curse,”** The fox said. 

“A curse?” Naruto repeated.

 **“Does the idea of being under a curse surprise you?”** The fox asked.

Naruto frowned as he said “Curses sound like something out of fairy tales then reality.” 

**“Unfortunately for you curses work rather you believe in them or not,”** The fox said. **“Maybe I’m wrong about it being a curse, but I don’t think I am. I can’t think of anything else that can cause such symptoms. This is no simple disease or symptom of a seal gone wrong. The only thing I can think of that could possibly cause a human to cough up flowers from out of nowhere is a curse. A strange curse, but a curse none the less.”**

Naruto didn’t respond to that right away. He wasn’t really sure how to respond to that. A curse? Really? When the fox described it like it made Naruto feel like he was some cursed princess waiting for prince charming to come along and break the dark spell that had been cast on him.

 _‘Yeah, somehow I don’t think true love’s first kiss from Kakashi would be enough to make this flower thing go away,’_ Naruto thought. 

Naruto sighed before he looked at fox. 

“Alright, let’s say that this is a curse. What the hell caused it to start up now?” 

The fox just shot Naruto a large toothy grin upon hearing that. 

**“Stupid boy don’t ask questions that you already know the answer to.”**

Naruto opened his mouth to reply only to snap it shut when he felt himself start to become lightheaded.

 **“Looks like you are waking up,”** The fox commented. **“I’ll keep an eye on the flowers growing here and keep you informed on any changes. With that said you better find a cure to your flower problem quick, boy. If left alone I have no doubt that it will get worse, and I already told you that I refuse to die due to you choking on flowers.”**

If Naruto had any response to that he didn’t get the chance to say it. After the fox had finished speaking everything around Naruto faded away and Naruto found himself being flung out of his mind and back out into the waking world…

\---------------------------

The second Naruto opens his eyes he lets out a loud groan as the dawn’s first light enters through the nearby window and immediately tries to blind him. He can feel the beginning of a headache rapidly approaching while the fox’s ominous warning rings in his head. 

_If left alone I have no doubt that it will get worse…_

Naruto places his arm over his eyes as he lets out a soft sigh. If this was how his morning was going to start he wasn’t going to have high hopes on the rest of his day being any better. Naruto about jumps out of his skin when he feels a cold wet nose press up against his arm, but he relaxes slightly when he hears a familiar deep voice speak to him. 

“You alright kid?”

Naruto moved his arm away from his eyes and looked over to his left only to see Pakkun staring at him. Naruto gave the dog a small smile as he said “I’m alright.”

“Are you sure?” Naruto heard someone ask from the end of the bed. 

Naruto looked down only to see Bisuke lying on the bed by Naruto’s feet. Naruto’s smile brightened upon seeing the small dog.

“Bisuke! It’s been a while!”

Naruto immediately sat up and reached out to scratch the dog behind the ear. Bisuke let out a small yip of joy upon receiving scratches while he leaned into the touch.

“Good to see you too Naruto. Although, I wish we were meeting up during happier times.” 

Naruto froze for a moment upon hearing that, but after a few seconds passed by Naruto continued to scratch the dog behind the ear. 

“Kakashi-sensei told you about the flower thing, huh?”

“He filled us in a bit,” Pakkun said.

“Where is Kakashi?”

“He went out to get groceries,” Bisuke answered. 

“And he left you guys to watch over me?” 

Both dogs answered in the affirmative to that question. Naruto let out a soft sigh.

 _‘Looks like I am not going to be telling Kakashi what the fox told me for a while,’_ He thought. 

Maybe that was for the best. He had a lot he wanted to think over before he talked to Kakashi. Naruto stopped scratching Bisuke so that he could slide off of the bed.

“You think Kakashi would mind if I used his shower while he is gone?” Naruto asked as he opened up the chest of drawers and started pulling out some new clothes. 

“Kakashi won’t care,” Bisuke said as he jumped off of the bed. “You need me to show me where the bathroom is?”

“Yeah, Kakashi wasn’t able to do so last night so I would really appreciate it.” 

“Follow me then!” The dog said as he started to walk out of the room.

“Don’t take too long,” Pakkun called out to him. “Kakashi should be back soon, and he will probably start working on breakfast the second he gets home.”

“Okay!” Naruto called out. 

It didn’t take long for Naruto to get to the bathroom since it was only a few doors down. 

“Towels are in the closet in the bathroom,” Bisuke informed him. “You can just dump your clothes into the clothing hamper inside.”

Naruto gave Bisuke a quick thanks as he slipped into the bathroom. He quickly closed the door, and once he heard the door click closed he dumped his clothes onto the sink countertop and made the hand signs needed to make a shadow clone. 

The second the shadow clone popped into existence it said “Another shadow clone talk, huh?” 

“Well, it worked out pretty well last time,” Naruto said with a slight shrug of his shoulders. 

“I don’t know if I would say that. Last time you had a shadow clone talk you started throwing up flowers.” 

Naruto let out a small snort of amusement at the clone’s rather lame attempt at joking.

“If the fox is right about this being a curse that I have had for a while then that probably would have happened eventually anyway.” 

Naruto quickly stripped out of his clothes while his clone leaned up against the bathroom door only to slowly slide down into a sitting position on the floor. Maybe it was a bit weird to have a talk with his clone now of all times, but honestly Naruto needed to figure things out first before he said anything to Kakashi and talking to his shadow clones always helped with that.

As Naruto climbed into the shower and turned it on he heard his clone ask “So what should we go over first?”

“You think anything the fox told us was true? About this possibly being a curse that I have had for who knows how long?” 

Naruto heard his clone let out a loud sigh upon hearing that question. It was quiet for about three minutes or so before the clone finally said “I have no idea. You know how the fox is.”

Naruto sighed himself upon hearing that. It was difficult to tell if the fox really was telling the truth. The fox never hid his strong hate for Naruto and humanity in general. He also didn’t hide the fact that he was just waiting for the chance to break out, and he would take advantage of any weakness that Naruto showed. Naruto wouldn’t put it pass the fox to freak Naruto out just for kicks, or to make Naruto panic so that he could take advantage of it later. 

“I know,” Naruto said. “But you know that the fox hates the idea of dying with me. He would do anything to avoid that. I don’t think he would lie about something that could hurt him too. Also, lies or not those vines were real.”

“You really think this could kill the two of you?” The clone asked. “I mean I know it sucks, but during your checkup they said that as far as they can tell you are healthy.”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean it can’t get worse. The attack with the honeysuckle was pretty bad.”

“I guess that is true,” The clone murmured. 

It was quiet for a moment with the only sound heard being the running water of the shower. Neither the clone nor Naruto said anything as they gave themselves some time to think. 

“So to make a long story short we honestly don’t know if he is telling the truth or not,” The clone said slowly after a few minutes had passed by.

“Pretty much,” Naruto muttered. “And even if he is it sounds like he doesn’t really know what my problem is. He sounded like he was pretty sure it was a curse, but again he only said he was pretty sure. He never said he was positive.” 

Again silence fell over the room, and neither the clone nor Naruto brother to break the silence. It stayed quiet for a while. Naruto was unsure of what to say after they established the fact that they couldn’t trust the fox completely. He did believe that the fox was telling the truth about this not being caused by Hiruko, but who knows with the rest of the stuff. The only way to find out if it was possible that it was a curse was by asking Kakashi. When Naruto finally washed the shampoo out of his hair he asked the other question that was bugging him. It was a stupid question to ask. A very stupid question to ask, and yet Naruto felt compelled to ask it.

“Hey,” Naruto called out. “What do you think the fox meant when he said don’t ask questions that you already know the answer to?” 

The clone let out a loud snort upon hearing that. “Boss, don't be stupid. He said that because you do know the answer. You figured it out last night, but you don’t want to admit it. Or maybe you want to forget that you have figured it out already.” 

Even though the water was still warm Naruto could feel a cold chill run down his spin. Naruto was sure that he knew why the curse, if it was indeed a curse, had kicked in. Yet, he didn’t want to admit it out loud. He couldn't admit it out loud. He needed someone to state the facts out loud for him, and luckily for him his clone didn’t have the same issue as Naruto because he was quick to say what Naruto already knew without even a second of hesitation.

“The second you figured out you were in love with Kakashi you started to cough up flowers.” 

Naruto could feel that familiar tickling sensation in his throat. He wanted to tell his clone to just shut up, but he couldn’t get the words to leave his mouth. He wasn’t coughing up flowers, but it felt like petals had filled his mouth to keep him from talking. 

“Every single flower that you coughed up has been associated with love. Hell, you coughed up a flower that means ‘you are lovely’ right when you were thinking that Kakashi was lovely and wanted to tell him so.”

Naruto could feel is body start to tremble a bit.

“Boss, I hate to say this but if this really is a curse I think you figuring out that you are in love with Kakashi is what triggered the curse.”

He could just feel a coughing fit coming on now. It was lingering on the edges just waiting to start. Yet, it waited long enough for Naruto to ask one more question.

“If me figuring out that I’m in love is really what set it off then why did nothing ever happen back when I had a crush on Sakura? What I felt for her isn’t nearly as strong as what I feel for Kakashi, but still…” 

“Boss, you were never really in love with Sakura and you know it,” His clone said softly. “You were in love with the idea of being in love. You wanted someone to love you and you liked Sakura enough that you just immediately clung to her in hopes that maybe she could give you the love that you wanted. Kakashi is the first time you actually felt any true romantic love for someone.” 

That did it. That one comment was enough to cause Naruto to start loudly coughing. A spray of pink petals fell from his mouth and fluttered down to the floor of the bathtub. 

“Boss?” His clone called out softly in concern. 

The sound of something scratching at the bathroom door caused both Naruto and the clone to jump in surprise.

“Naruto?” They heard Pakkun call out. “Are you alright? I heard coughing. If you don’t answer now I’m breaking in.” 

“I’m fine!” Naruto lied as he watched the petals get swept away by the water.

There were no flowers this time around. There were just petals thankfully. He couldn’t identify what flower was, and by the time he even thought to grab a petal so that someone like Ino could try and identify the flower it was already too late. The water had already swept the thin petals down the drain. 

“Are you really fine?” Naruto heard his clone whisper to him. 

“Just dispel yourself already,” Naruto hissed back. 

The clone let out a soft sigh before it did as it was asked. Once the clone was gone Naruto got out of the shower, dried off, and quickly got dressed. Once he was dressed he opened the door he saw Pakkun standing there waiting for him.

“Are you really okay?” The dog asked. 

“Pakkun don’t worry I’m fine,” Naruto tried to assure the dog as he gave the ninken a large smile. 

His smile must have been weaker then he thought because Pakkun just looked rather unimpressed.

“You suck at lying kid,” The pug informed him. 

Naruto’s smile vanished upon hearing that.

_‘Am I that easy to read, or does Pakkun just know me to well?’_ Naruto briefly pondered. 

Well, that was a question he was going to have to contemplate another day because Pakkun wasn’t going to allow Naruto to stay lost in his thoughts for long.

“You want to tell me what is wrong?”

Naruto avoids the question by asking “Is Kakashi-sensei back?”

“He’s in the kitchen making breakfast now,” Pakkun answered. “Now are you going to answer my question?” 

“I’ll tell you all after breakfast,” Naruto said softly. 

The dog only gave the blond a look that heavily implied that he didn’t he believe that.

“I promise,” Naruto said all while putting as much emphasis as he could on the word promise. 

Pakkun stared at him for a few seconds before he said “Alright.”

Naruto relaxed a bit upon hearing that. Pakkun believed him, but that was no surprise. When Naruto made a promise he kept it. 

_‘Or at least I try to keep a promise at any rate,’_ Naruto thought. 

The blond was quick to chuck that thought out of his head before it could lead him down any dark paths.

“I trust you to keep a promise,” Pakkun said. “But you better talk right after breakfast is over, or I’m telling Kakashi that something is wrong with you.”

Naruto sighed upon hearing that, but nodded. Satisfied for now the dog started making his way to the kitchen. Naruto followed after the little pug silently, and as he walked he couldn’t help but think of one thing and one thing only.

_‘Today is going to be a very long day…’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pink Begonia: Warning about misfortune, be cautious, dark thoughts.
> 
> Begonia flowers are interesting because it has a lot of negative or at least darker meanings. A majority of its meanings is used to warn someone to be careful, or to give someone a heads up on upcoming trouble. Due to the fact that the flower is considered a 'warning' flower it ended up also coming to represent dark thoughts and worries. 
> 
> On a lighter note begonias can also be used to mean gratitude for something, justice, peace, individuality/uniqueness, and harmonious communication.
> 
> Although, for this chapter the harmonious communication bit is more ironic then anything else. 
> 
> On another note Pink Begonias are supposed to be tied in with love or romance.


	8. Aloe Vera

If there is something that all medic-nin’s must learn from day one, it is that being a medic-nin required one to be a jack of all trades. There were a lot of things that a medic-nin had to master or learn if they wished to be even a halfway decent medic. A medic-nin had to be a decant herbalist who knew what plants could be useful for healing, and what plants were only good for causing pain. They had to be decant with seals because some seals could be used to heal, to help with surgeries, or at least be able to carry the amount of supplies that a medic-nin needed. 

They needed to be at least a somewhat decant apothecary who could mix together the medicines needed to heal, or to create the food pills that ninjas needed on long missions that required them to be on the road and away from civilization for a long time. They needed to be good field medics who learned really quick how to work in the middle of a battle, and how to work with whatever materials they were able to salvage on a mission. They needed to be fighters who could turn their healing knowledge into deadly attacks that could take down their enemy before their enemy could cause any harm. All in all, there are a lot of things that a medic-nin needed to be.

However, there was one job that a medic-nin needed to master quickly if they wanted to be a truly good medic. That job was the job of a researcher. No one is born knowing everything. Sometimes a medic ran across an illness that they had never seen before, or they had to treat an injury that they had little experience dealing with. When those situations happened it was a good idea to turn to medical texts. Medical books were a way for a medic to learn about illnesses that they had never seen before, or to learn about ways to treat injuries in ways that they had never thought of before. Books could help one learn new jutsu that would allow them to heal people more effectively with less chakra. By reading about other medics’ experiences treating unusual cases one could possibly learn new ways to approach unusual problems.

Doing research was absolutely essential for a medic, and Sakura understood this very well. Sakura had always been a bit bookish, and she excelled in studying and research. Her skills in studying had served her very well in her job as a medic. Any problem that she came across she could almost always find an answer in a book. In the rare instance that a book didn’t have an answer she could always turn to Tsunade for an answer, or at least to have the woman point her in the right direction. Up until now her medical texts and her teacher had never steered her wrong.

Yet, for once in her life nether books nor Tsunade could help her. Tsunade had no answers to the mysterious illness that plagued Naruto, and no book in the Hokage Tower’s collection could point Sakura in the right direction. Sakura felt helpless, and the pink haired girl hated feeling helpless. When she felt helpless she was always mentally taken back to that time in the Forest of Death when that Sound ninja holding Sakura’s hair in a death grip as she mocks Sakura for her weakness. Sakura hated that moment. She hated how helpless he felt. She hated how she felt like there was nothing that she contributed to the team. Naruto and Sasuke had needed her to protect them during their hour of need, and she couldn’t even do that. Sakura never wanted to feel that useless again. That moment combined with her failure to stop Sasuke from leaving the village was what pushed her to eventually try and become the very best medic-nin that she could possibly be. She would not be useless to her team again. She would not stand by the sidelines anymore.

For the most part she had accomplished her goal. She no longer stood on the sidelines all the time. She had trained her butt off and in exchange she was becoming a rather good healer who could punch holes into mountains. She didn’t stand on the sidelines when Kakashi’s had gone off on his suicide mission. Instead, she had broken Naruto out of jail and had joined him and Sai in getting their team leader back. Of course she was not perfect. She still stumbled from time to time. She still had a lot to learn. However, she had grown a lot since her genin days. It had been a long time since she had felt completely useless.

Of course that all came crashing down once Naruto started coughing up flowers. Suddenly Naruto starts randomly choking on flowers and the rug is pulled out from underneath Sakura. For once her wise teacher in the arts of medical jutsu is clueless. Tsunade has no answers for what is wrong with the blond. The woman can’t even point Sakura in the right direction to find an answer. Tsunade is scrambling right by Sakura’s side desperately trying to find an answer to the problem. No books held any answers for her. All of the medical texts that the Hokages of the past thought were important enough to store in the tower could shed any light on Naruto’s problem. No scroll held a hint that could possibly help to alive Naruto’s suffering. All they had been able to figure out after hours of searching was that the flowers that Naruto was choking on were connected to love, but even that small tidbit of information could ultimately be worthless in the end.

This feeling of helplessness inside Sakura grew stronger and stronger with each failure, and Naruto’s episode with the honeysuckle flower had been the straw the broke the camel’s back. Sakura had never seen Naruto so drained of energy like that before. The look of helpless terror that shinned in Kakashi’s eye as he watched Naruto choke on flowers was something she had never seen Kakashi show before. It was chilling to watch her normally sunny energetic teammate look so week and defeated, and it was equally sad to see her strong calm sensei look so helpless. When the flower episode was over Sakura had rushed off to inform Tsunade what had happened, but the second she had done that she immediately raced home. 

Once Sakura had gotten home she immediately started reading though every medical textbook that she owned. Sakura had amassed a rather large collection of medical textbooks over the years, and while she was under no delusions that one of her books would hold the answer to Naruto problem she was hoping that at least one of her books could help her find a way to ease Naruto’s suffering. Something that could help sooth a sore throat, or something that could help give him a boost of energy when his coughing fit sucked the energy out of him. As she made a list of things that could be used to help with any pain that Naruto’s disease was causing she was all too aware that all she was doing was doing was only temporary relief. Naruto would appreciate what Sakura was doing and would be thrilled that she was thinking of ways to help make his coughing fits a bit easier to deal with so she knew he would be happy about it. 

Still, Sakura couldn’t help but feel like a bit of a failure. She couldn’t find the cause for Naruto’s pain so instead she was sitting here trying to treat temporary problems rather than dealing with the actual disease. She was Naruto’s teammate and team medic-nin, and she couldn’t help him. Right now all she could do was make a list of things she could do to possibly at least help Naruto feel a bit better after a flower attack. Once she had made up her list Sakura went to sleep that night feeling like a failure. Her sleep was filled with nightmares of her watching as Naruto choking to death on flowers, and as he was forced to sit there and watch as Naruto struggled to breathe through the petals she could hear that accursed Sound Ninja girl that had mocked her so long ago whispering in her ear. 

“Useless,” The accursed Sound Ninja hissed into Sakura’s ear. “You spent years training to become a medic-nin and you can’t even use that knowledge to help your friend at all? You really are useless aren’t you?” 

Even when Sakura woke up early in the morning she could still hear that Sound Ninja’s voice echoing in her ears. 

_You really are useless._

Sakura sighs as she rolls out of her bed and starts to get ready for the day. She had gone to bed at a decent time and slept through the whole night, but she still felt exhausted. She didn’t think about it for long. It didn’t feel right to really complain about how tired she felt even if she was only complaining to herself. If she felt tired she couldn’t imagine how Naruto felt right now. He was the one who coughed up enough honeysuckle flowers to fill up a ramen bowl. Her one night of uneasy sleep seemed rather small compared to that. Once she had gotten dressed she quickly ate an apple for breakfast she quickly shot out the door and started to make her way to Ino’s house.

While Sakura’s night was rather fruitless she was hoping that maybe Ino had a bit more luck on getting some information on Naruto’s disease from her father. As Sakura walked she tried to think of anything that she could do to help her figure out what is wrong with Naruto. She couldn’t think of anything specific, but when she was about almost at the Yamanaka Flowers her head finally came up with something. 

_‘You could do a scan of him while he is coughing up flowers to see if there is any change in his chakra.’_

Upon thinking that Sakura could not help but mentally kick herself. Yesterday when Naruto had been coughing up honeysuckle flowers would have been a perfect moment to do a scan. However, she had been too busy trying to calm down a panicking Teuchi to even think of doing something like that.

Sakura let out a soft sigh as she thought _‘Just goes to show I got a long way to go before I become a great medic.’_

She allowed that thought to drift away as she approached the flower shop. She could see Ino’s mother preparing to open the shop up for the day. She was humming some nameless tune as she watered a few of the plants that that they had out on display outside. 

Upon spotting Sakura, a warm smile appeared on the woman’s face as she said “Good morning Sakura! It’s been a while since your last visit.”

“Good morning,” Sakura said as she smiled back at the woman. “Is Ino home right now?”

“I think she’s in the dining room with her father still eating breakfast,” The woman informed her. “Go on in. I bet she would be happy to see you.”

Sakura quickly gave the woman a murmured thanks before she rushed inside. She didn’t need to be told how to reach the dining room. Sakura had been to Ino’s house so much that she could navigate the place with ease. Upon reaching the dinning room she found Ino and her father seated at the dining room table. The table had been cleared of breakfast, but there was a pot of freshly made tea sitting in the center of the table along with a few cups. Sakura could also see that Ino had a notebook open in front of her and a pen in hand. Upon stepping into the room the two Yamanaka clan members turned to look at her only to smile when they saw who it was.

“Sakura! Good morning!” Ino chirped out.

“Good morning,” Sakura returned as she slid into the empty seat next to Ino. “Have you asked your dad about the flowers yet?”

Ino shook her head. “Not yet. I was just about to.”

The girl paused for a moment in order to study Sakura for a moment.

“You look horrible,” Ino said rather bluntly. 

Sakura let out a small huff of amusement upon hearing that and sarcastically said “Gee, thanks.” 

“Long night?”

Sakura just gave her friend a tired look as she asked “Could you blame me for having a long night after the honeysuckle thing?” 

Ino let out a soft sigh but shook her head no. No one could blame Sakura for having a rough night after seeing her teammate suffer so much. As they chattered back and forth Sakura didn’t miss the fact that Yamanaka patriarch was studying them with a rather calculated look on his face. Sakura had no idea what was going through his head. All she knew was that the man had probably figured out that there was something serious going on. The sound of Ino letting out a soft sigh causes Sakura to look away from the man and over at Ino only to have a cup of warm tea get shoved toward her. 

“Drink this it will help,” Ino said. 

Sakura accepted the cup of tea without comment and takes a small sip. The smell of mint coming from the cup washes over her, and the warm tea does help Sakura relax a bit.

“Thanks,” Sakura says softly. “I needed that.”

Ino smiles slightly, but it fades away when Ino’s father finally cuts into the conversation. 

“I hate to interrupt your conversation girls, but Ino said she had a question for me?”

The man glanced over at Sakura and said “And it sounds like it is a question that you also really want to know the answer to.” 

That comment snapped Ino and Sakura out of their mini conversation and back to the main topic. 

“Yeah, there was something we wanted to ask you.” Ino tapped her pen down against her note book as she gave her father a hopeful look. “Have you ever heard of someone coughing up flowers before?”

Sakura really wasn’t sure what to expect when Ino asked her father that question. Honestly, considering how hard it had been up to this point to find any sort of information on Naruto’s condition Sakura she wasn’t expecting much. At best she thought maybe he would say he didn’t know anything but he had relative who worked with plants that might be able to help, and at worse she expected him to say that he had never heard of such a thing and he was pretty sure that nobody in the Yamanaka clan had heard of such a thing either.

What she didn’t expect to hear was the man say “Are you talking about that fairy tale that I used to tell you when you were a little girl?”

Both girls only blinked a few times in shock before they both flatly said “What?”

The man smiled as he said “Oh, when Ino was a toddler I used to tell her bedtime stories. She always used to love hearing my stories, and she would beg for me to tell her more than one every night.” The man looked like he was slowly getting lost in fond memories while Ino just looked confused. “I remember you telling me stories before I went to bed when I was a kid, but I sure as heck don’t remember you telling me stories about people coughing up flowers.”

“I guess that shouldn’t be surprising. I told you the story once when you were four and you absolutely hated it. The idea of flowers causing pain in such a way really upset you as a child and you demanded that I never tell you that story again.” The man’s smile quickly faded after he said that. “Although, if you honestly don’t remember the story why are you asking about people coughing up flowers?”

“We’ll explain later,” Ino said quickly. “Can you tell us more about this story? Where it came from, or if there is any truth to it?”

The man stared at his daughter for a few seconds before he shrugged. Apparently satisfied with the answer that Ino would explain later he started sharing what he knew. 

“To know where the story originated from you first have to know a bit of clan history,” The man said. “Way back then during the Warring States Period our clan was located where the Land of Vegetables is now although it wasn’t called that back then.”

The man smiled as he said “The history of how our clan relocated to the Land of Fire is actually quite interesting! You see it all started when a small group of Nara and Akimichi clan members…” 

The man slowly trailed to a stop when he saw the rather unamused looks that the girls were shooting him. 

The man cleared his throat and said “Well, maybe I will tell you the full story some other time. The point is the Nara and Akimichi clan did a great service for our clan and in gratitude we formed an alliance with their clans that is still going on to this day, and we relocated our clan to the Land of Fire so that we may live with them. When our clan came to the Land of Fire it ended up bringing back a lot of traditions, fighting techniques, and stories from their old homeland with them to their new one. One of the stories they brought back from their homeland was the tale of The Girl Who Coughed up Flowers.” 

“Was the story special to the Yamanaka clan? Did they write the story down?” Sakura asked. 

“As far as I know the story has no personal connection to our clan. It was just an old folktale that was popular in the land that we came from, so it naturally stayed with us when our clan moved to the Land of Fire. The story was kept alive through oral tradition. A tale parents told their children as an entreating story only to have those children grow up and do the same to their children. It’s just a fairy tale much like The Mirror of Matsuyama story or the Bunbuku Chagama tale.” The man shrugged. “Considering how old the story is I’m sure the tale is told in the Land of Vegetables to this day, and if that is the case chances are high that some folklorist out there wrote the story down in order to preserve it.” 

“So how does the story go?” Sakura asked.

“There are a few different versions of the story, but all of the stories start out the same,” The man said. “Once upon a time there was a beautiful maiden with eyes the color of a clear blue sky, and hair the color of golden wheat who lived in a village famous for its flowers. She was gentle and kind to a fault always willing to lend a hand to anyone down on their luck. Many young men fell in love with her on first sight, and they were quick to ask her for her hand in marriage. However, she always refused their offers. Many men offered her great riches like beautiful jewels and expensive mansions if she would merry them, but still she would refuse. Strong clan heads and powerful daimyo asked for her hand in marriage all while promising her power and prestige. Still, she refused them. The girl didn’t care for jewels and riches. She cared nothing for power so being the wife of a clan head or a daimyo wasn’t important to her. She wanted to marry someone because she loved them. She would only merry for love.”

As the man talked Sakura took another sip of her tea. The story sounded fine so far. If anything it sounded like every other fairy tale that she had heard. Yet, she was waiting for the bad things to start kicking in. She was waiting for the girl to start coughing up flowers in horrifying ways just like Naruto. Sakura wasn’t left waiting long.

“One day a prideful clan head came to the village and spotted the girl. Upon seeing her he instantly wanted her as his wife. Of course she rejected the stranger. The man was enraged at her rejection. He was so angry that he placed a curse on the girl. The man cursed the girl so that when she finally fell in love she would be cursed to cough up things that would symbolize her feelings. Her love would slowly kill her. It would slowly strangle the life out of her until she finally died.” 

As the man talked Sakura could see Ino writing down every word that her father said. She was making sure that she got down everything. Ino’s father had noticed as well, but he didn’t bother stopping his tale to comment on it. He just continued telling his tale.

“The man left the village right after he cursed the girl. The girl was scared of the curse, but when a few years passed by and nothing bad had happened to her she thought maybe she was safe and there was no real curse. Eventually the girl forgot about the curse. A few more years passed and one day a man moved into town. He was a young man from a small clan that had no claim to fame or special jutsu. He was not a clan head nor was he rich in any way. His chakra levels were so low that he was unable to become a ninja, so instead he moved into town and became a simple shopkeeper. The girl went to the man’s shop and slowly they started to get to know each other. As time went by they became friends who supported each other through everything. As they became closer and closer they started to hang out together more and more, and before the girl knew it she started falling in love with him.”

“And then she started coughing up flowers?” Ino asked.

“And then she started coughing up flowers,” The man confirmed. “First she started up coughing up red rose petals.” 

“Classic symbols of love,” Ino commented as she wrote down the flower that the girl from the story coughed up.

“Then she coughed up pink roses,” He continued.

“More symbols of love,” Ino muttered as she continued to write. 

The man ignored Ino's muttering and said “It went on for that for a few months. At first she only coughed up flowers, but eventually she started to cough up fully bloomed flowers. As it went on she started coughing up more and more flowers, and she started to find it harder and harder to breathe. Eventually she started to cough up flowers that had negative meanings like unrequited love or death. Soon after she started coughing up flowers the girl quickly figured out that she was in love with the boy, and she also figured out that the flowers were a part of the curse that had been placed on her. She didn’t know how to remove the curse, and while she knew she was in love she had no idea if the boy loved her back. She tried to find a cure to no avail. She traveled all around the land trying to find someone who could help her, but her quest ended in failure. Not even the greatest of wise men could figure out how to cure her. Wherever she went she was told that a cure was impossible and that she was fated to die with flowers in her lungs. In the end all she could do was return home and hide her affliction so that she would not worry the people she cared about.” 

The man leaned back in his seat and looked at the two girls with a serious look on her face. “After that part the story splits off into a bunch of different versions, but most only have slight differences between them. There are only two versions of the story that are really worth mentioning.”

“What’s the first version?” Ino asked. 

“The first version would be the one that I told you when you were a child. The girl was scared to confess her love, and she didn’t want to confess when the curse could very well kill her. However, if she was going to die she wanted to die without regret. She confessed her love to the man and waited for his reaction. The man was thrilled to hear her confession, and told her that he loved her as well. He kissed her only for her to break the kiss and suddenly start coughing up every flower that had ever fallen out of her mouth. When her coughing fit finally ended she found that she could breathe easily again. True love's first kiss had broken the curse. The couple got married soon after and lived happily ever after.”

“And the other version?” Ino asked slowly. 

“Ah,” The man said slowly. “The other version has a rather unhappy ending. Are you sure you want to hear it?” 

“Yes,” Sakura said softly. “It’s important that we hear both versions.”

“In the other version of the tale the girl confessed only to have the man sadly tell her that he could not return her love and that he was in love with another. Her heart broke upon hearing that, but she didn’t let the man know of her heartbreak. She just told him that it was alright she was just happy to be able to finally confess, and that she hoped that the man would be able to get together with the women that he loved. The girl then went home, and she never came back out. When a few days had passed by and there were no signs of the girl the boy and the villagers grew concerned and visited her home. They found her lying on her bed surrounded by flowers. She died choking on flowers. The curse had done its job.” The man frowned slightly after he said all of that. “Never liked the sad version of the story. Always found it a bit too depressing.”

Sakura didn’t respond to that. Ino didn’t either. There were too many questions and thoughts running through Sakura’s head at that moment for her to respond.

Was that story based off of any truth, or was it just a story? Even if there was a small bit of truth to the tale who was to say that any of it applied to Naruto?

Did this story apply to Naruto at all? If it did who in the hell was Naruto in love with? Would confessing his love make the disease go away? What if the confessing to get rid of the disease was just something the story made up to make it more like a fairytale and not a depressing story of how a women had died by choking on flowers? What if it was true and Naruto confessed only to get rejected? 

Questions buzzed around in her head demanding answers that Sakura couldn’t give. If the expression on Ino’s face was anything to go by Sakura figured it was safe to assume that similar questions were also swimming around in Ino’s head. 

“Why are you two so insistent on hearing the story?” The man asked. 

That question was able to drag Sakura out of her inner turmoil long enough for Sakura to say “Naruto is coughing up flowers.”

“Each flower he has coughed up has been connected with love,” Ino added. “Red carnations, honeysuckle, gardenia, dark pink azalea flowers, and some orange and red pansy flowers.”

The man didn’t say anything upon hearing that. He just stares at the two girls in silence as if he were waiting for one of them to jump out of their seat and yell “Just kidding!”

Neither of the girls did that of course. They just stared right back at him as they gave him solemn looks that Sakura hoped were getting across to him just how serious they were. 

Eventually the man let out a soft sigh. “When did it start?” 

“Yesterday,” Sakura answered. “Sometime early in the morning is when it officially started.”

“I’m not even going to ask if you told Tsunade-sama yet. I already know that you have.” The man glanced over at Sakura. “Have you found out anything yet?”

“No, we haven’t found out anything,” Sakura admitted sadly. “We already went through pretty much the whole collection of the Hokage Tower’s personal collection of books with some of our friends and we were not able to find anything that could shed some light on the problem.” 

“When we were talking about the flowers that Naruto had coughed up I noticed that each flower was related with flowers in some way or another,” Ino said. “I thought maybe you would know something since you are so knowledgeable about flowers, and I know our clan has a few scrolls on obscure ninja techniques that involve flowers in some way. I was hoping that maybe you would know something that could help us.”

“We were not expecting the story though,” Sakura commented. 

The man nodded upon hearing that as a slight smile appeared on his face.

“As I said before the one and only time I told the happy version of the story to Ino when she was four she had a total meltdown. She hated the idea of flowers being used to cause harm like that. I’m not surprised it didn’t stick in her memory.” His smile faded as he let out a soft sigh and leaned up against his seat. “Anyway, Ino is right that our clan has many scrolls dealing with plants. Most are talking about caring for rare or fragile plants, or using plants to create potent poisons or potions. We also do have a few scrolls on ninjutsu and genjutsu moves involving flower-oriented techniques.” 

Sakura perked up a bit upon hearing that, and the man must have noticed it because he was quick to stop that before she got her hopes up. 

“We don’t have that many scrolls on it. What we do have are just a few scrolls that are clan was able to take with them when they left settle in the Land of Fire. Most of those scrolls consist of making flowers explode or things like that.”

“Oh! You mean the Flower Ninja Art: Many Releasing Flowers!” Ino shouted out. “I remember reading that scroll once. Never was able to find much of a chance to use it though.”

The man nodded as he said “Yes, things like that. We have no scroll that talks about or even mentions ever causing someone to cough up flowers.”

Both girls let out soft sighs of frustration upon hearing that although honestly they couldn’t say that they were too surprised by that bit of news. It really was frustrating. Every time they got even a small tidbit of information that could possibly have something to do with Naruto’s condition they only ever ended up with more questions than answers. 

“Was there anything in the story that you left out?” Ino asked. 

“Not really. I left out a lot of the dialogue to give you the in the nutshell version, but none of the dialogue is really earth shattering.”

“You said there were a lot of different versions of the story. Are any of them drastically different from the two that you told us about?” Sakura asked.

“The different versions that I mentioned are just hundreds of versions of the two stories I mentioned. In one version of the tale where the girl dies the boy hunts down the man who cursed her and killed him in vengeance. In one version of the tale where the girl lived the girl and boy got married and had many children who went on to become a powerful and deeply respected clan although the clan is never named.” The man shrugged. “I always assumed that most versions of the two endings were just things that the storytellers added on themselves to make the story sadder or happier. My grandmother had told me the story with the clan bit because she liked it, but my grandfather always thought it was a bit much. He preferred the simpler they get married and live happily ever after ending. Over the years I imagine a few of our clan members had created their own spin to the two possible endings of the story.”

“Is there any chance that the story could be true at all?” Sakura asked. 

The man stared at the pink haired girl for a moment before he asked “What you are really asking is if it is possible to curse someone like that, right?”

Sakura nodded. The man let out a soft sigh as he crossed his arms and looked up at the ceiling clearly getting lost in thought.

“I honestly don’t know. I have been on a pretty large number of missions and felt with some strange jutsu in my day, and I have never heard of anyone coughing up flowers like that.” The man looked at the two girls as a grim frown made its way onto his face. “However, I don’t know everything in the world and I know better than to think I have seen every jutsu in the world.”

“So basically what you are saying is that there could be a kernel of truth to the story?” Ino asked. 

“That is indeed what I am trying to get at here. There could be a chance that it has nothing to do with Naruto, but due to how similar the symptoms are digging into the truth of the story would not hurt.”

“And how would we go about doing that?” Ino asked. 

“Well, as I said before the story is old so chances are a folklorist may have looked into the history of the story and written it down. Although, the real question is if any of those books will have any actual answers for us.” The man shrugged. “I can check out the bookstores in our village and see if anyone carries any books that talk about the tale.” 

“Thank you,” Sakura said as she gave the man a grateful smile. “We really appreciate the help.”

“It’s no problem at all! I’m happy to help.” A soft smile appeared on the man’s face as he said “Naruto is a good kid, so I have no problem helping him out. Besides there are plenty of people who would be disappointed if I didn’t help the kid out.”

A distant look appeared on the man’s face as he said that and he seemed to be getting lost down memory lane, but before Sakura could question it Ino said “You think we could talk to Jiraiya to help out? That guy travels all over the place doesn’t he? I bet he has some contacts that could help, or maybe he knows about some old bookstores that have books on the subject.” 

Sakura thought for a moment. Jiraiya probably could help out, but upon thinking about Sakura was sure that she knew of someone else who could help out even more then Jiraiya could.

Sakura smiled as she said “When it comes to tales from the Land of Vegetables I think I know someone who could help even more then Jiraiya can.” 

Ino looked confused for a moment, but then her eyes lit up when she realized who Sakura was referring to.

“The daimyo of the Land of Vegetables!” Ino yelled out in excitement. 

The Yamanaka family head only blinked a few times in confusion upon hearing his daughter’s sudden shouting. 

“A long time ago Chōji, Hinata, and Naruto went on a mission in the Land of Vegetables and ended up helping out the daimyo,” Ino quickly explained. “Apparently she was really grateful to Naruto, and Chōji said that she was really fond of Naruto. If anyone could get us some info on the story from the Land of Vegetables, it would be the daimyo of the Land of Vegetables herself.” 

The man grinned upon hearing that.

“That would be useful. If anyone could get us the info we need on the tale it would be the daimyo of the land that the story originated from.” The man stood up as he said “I’m going to start checking out the bookstores here in town now. I suggest the both of you go and talk to the Hokage about Jiraiya and the daimyo. I imagine she has already called Jiraiya back into town so you shouldn’t have to worry about that, but you will need her to get into contact with the daimyo.” 

Sakura was out of her chair and yanking Ino out of her seat the second after the man finished saying her sentence. Ino had just enough time to grab her notebook before Sakura dragged her out of the building.

“Come on!” Sakura said as she pulled the girl along. “We need to hurry and tell Tsunade everything that we just heard.” 

Maybe they didn’t need to rush off as quickly as they were, but honestly Sakura wanted Tsunade to know about everything that they had just learned. Ino was quick to fall into step with Sakura rather quickly, and they wasted no time in leaping to the rooftops so that they could race off to the Hokage Tower as quickly as possible.

“You think the story is really connected to Naruto’s condition that much?” Ino asked as they ran across the rooftops. 

“I don’t know,” Sakura confessed. “But if it is I don’t want to waste any time getting the information we need.”

Ino cringed a bit at what Sakura was implying. Sakura was glad that her friend got what she was implying, and that Sakura didn’t need to elaborate. If everything that happened to the girl in the story was going to happen to Naruto they didn’t have much time. Naruto would be on a time limit, and no one knew exactly how much time Naruto had before the flowers would kill him. Honestly, this was all giving Sakura mixed feelings. If the story did apply to Naruto that would mean that that they knew how to cure him. He had to confess his love to someone, and hopefully have said love be returned. No needing to gather up rare expensive ingredients to cure him. No horrible ninja that needed to be hunted down and killed just to save Naruto. All Naruto had to do was confess and he would be cured.

However, on the flipside there were so many bad things that could happen if the story was true. If his love was rejected, then he would die and there was nothing anyone could do about it. No one could force someone to return Naruto’s love. There was also no one who could really force Naruto to confess either. She would like to think he would confess right away. Back when Naruto apparently had a crush on Sakura he didn’t hide how he felt for even one second. Although, if this was connected to love and all that maybe Naruto was actually better at hiding his feelings when it came to actual love and not just silly childish crush. 

Of course there was a possibility that Naruto didn’t even realize that he was truly in love with someone. Naruto could be pretty thick sometimes when it came to feelings. Even if one ignored all of that there was a chance that the story had nothing to do with Naruto and they were just wasting precious time that they didn’t have researching something that ultimately wouldn’t help Naruto out at all. Sakura honestly believed that the story probably had something to do with Naruto’s problem, but she had been wrong before. The only way they would know was by taking time to look into the story and see if there was any truth to it, but they could very well not have that time to waste. There was really no telling. Sakura couldn’t help but mentally sigh as a single thought ran through her head. 

_‘Leave it to Naruto to make everything complicated.’_

\-----------------------------

To say Tsunade was not having a good week would have been a glorious understatement. Heck, to say that she wasn’t having a good month would also be a rather humongous understatement. First, her village had been under treat of being dragged into war and destroyed all for the sins committed by a missing-nin that she had once considered a friend. Then Kakashi had been kidnapped by a rather nasty jutsu, and instead of letting her find some way to remove said jutsu Kakashi had talked her into making him into a living bomb so that he could take out the missing-nin by sacrificing his own life. Tsunade hated the fact that she had ever let Kakashi talk her into such an insane plan. She could admire the fact that he was willing to lay down his life to protect the village and everyone he loved, and at the same time she absolutely hated how quick he was to throw his life away and play the martyr. 

_‘You are always going on about how those who abandon their friends are lower than trash, but then you turn right around and ask us to abandon you to save our own hides. Why does that little saying of yours never apply to you? Do you even realize how devastated we would be if you died? Do you know how devastated your team would be if they lost you?’_

Those words drifted around in her head as she watched Kakashi prepare for a mission that he didn’t plan to come back from. It rattled around in her brain like a crazed tiger trapped in a cage while she glared at the ninjas who were just waiting for the order to try and destroy the Leaf Village. The words had danced at the tip of her tongue as she listened to Kakashi share his suicidal plan to save the village, and while the desire to share her thoughts were strong she could never bring herself to say the words. Knowing Kakashi he wouldn’t really listen to what she was saying. He would just shrug of her questions by saying that he was doing this to protect his precious Team 7, or that he was just doing what it took to protect the village that his dead friends had sacrificed their lives to protect. He would not allow their deaths to be in vain. 

As for the question about his little saying Tsunade was sure that Kakashi would just ignore that question entirely. There was no point in saying anything to Kakashi. He had already disregarded her arguments for his suicidal plan, so she knew he would not listen to any of her questions either. All she could do was send Kakashi off and pray for a miracle to save him. A miracle came in the shape of a hyper blue eyed blond, her pink haired apprentice, and a boy who could use his art to attack people. Maybe she should have been a bit frustrated that Team 7 had rushed off against orders to save their leader, but deep down Tsunade hadn’t cared. They saved Kakashi, the enemy was dead, and the Leaf Village was free to continue existing. As far as she was concerned everything had ended well and they were free to continue on with life like nothing happened. A few members of the council had grumbled about Naruto breaking the rules, but the punishment of D-Rank missions was enough to shut them up. 

After that had happened Tsunade had thought that the drama had passed. The threat was dealt with and Naruto and his team were stuck doing D-Rank missions for a while so there was no real fear of him getting into any serious danger until the punishment was over. She thought that everyone could at least relax for a little bit and just breath. Of course that was all shattered when Naruto was dragged into her office and started coughing up flower petals. The very thought of that moment caused her to clamp her eyes shut and try to push the memory out of her mind. Of course she couldn’t do that. Even thinking of that moment for one second caused the memory to play in her mind with perfect clarity. She could hear Naruto hacking and wheezing as he struggled to cough up all of the flower petals. She could see his whole body tremble as he clung to Kakashi and let the pink petals fall to the floor. She could remember how helpless she felt at that moment as she watched the boy that she cared so deeply for struggle for breath. 

She felt powerless, and the longer this went on the more powerless she felt. All of the medical tests she performed on Naruto came back negative. All of her tests made it clear that Naruto was a healthy eighteen-year-old, but that was clearly not true. No healthy person coughed up flowers. All the scrolls and books that Shikamaru and his friends brought her from the Tower’s storage room were worthless. They held no clue as to what could be wrong with Naruto, and they didn’t even offer up a hint as to what could possibly be wrong with him. Even Tsunade’s personal collection of medical books that covered more unusual diseases and injuries had no answers for her. She was lost and unable to find answers. 

Right now she felt useless. 

Her inability to help Naruto now reminded her way too much of her inability to help Dan when he had been chocking on his own blood right in front of her. Unusually her hand reached up to grab her family’s necklace only to stop herself when she remembered that she had given it to Naruto.

 _ **‘Maybe that necklace really is cursed. It kills everyone that you give it to. It killed Nawaki, it killed Dan, and now it is killing Naruto. Only instead of chocking on his own blood Naruto is going to have the very life strangled out of him with flowers.’**_

Tsunade was quick to shake that thought out of her head. Naruto wasn’t dead, and she wasn’t going to let him die without a fight. There was a way to save Naruto. She knew there had to be. She just had to find that way before it was too late. Her thoughts were dropped when the door to her office opened only to reveal Jiraiya. 

“Tsunade!” The man called out cheerfully as he stepped into the room. “Calling me back to town already? Did you miss me that much?”

The cheery smile on his face quickly faded away when he saw the look that the women was grieving him. It was a look that made it very clear that she was in no mood to deal with his usual antics right now.

“What happened?” He asked as he closed the door behind him. 

“Naruto is in trouble,” Tsunade answered.

“Is it the fox?” Jiraiya asked in a low tone. “Do I need to check out his seal again?”

“It isn’t the fox,” Tsunade said quickly. “At least I don’t think it is the fox’s fault at any rate.” 

Jiraiya said nothing to this although he did seem to calm down slightly once he knew that they were not about to have a Kyuubi problem on their hands. Still, he looked rather grim although that was to be expected. Jiraiya cared about the kid as much as she did. 

Deciding to just get right to the point rather then beat around the bush Tsunade quickly blurted out “Naruto is coughing up flowers.” 

The man didn’t really react to that. He didn’t even say a word. All he did was raise a single brow and gave her a look that he was probably just a bit worried about her mental health. 

“I’m not lying,” She said. “I’m not the only one who saw it. Kakashi, all of Team 7, and Shikamaru saw Naruto coughing up flowers. Even Shikamaru’s teammates have seen it.” Upon saying those words it felt like a dam broke and now everything that Tsunade knew of the situation started spilling from her mouth. “You have no idea how horrifying it is Jiraiya. When he’s coughing up those flowers it is like he struggling to breathe through all the petals. His whole entire body is shaking from the force of his coughing. The last coughing fit I was informed of apparently just sucked the very energy out of him to the point that he didn’t even want to eat more ramen.” 

That seemed to get the man’s attention. Naruto loved ramen and anything that made it so that he didn’t want any ramen at all was a major concern.

“I don’t know what is wrong with him. We checked out the flowers that he coughed up, but all tests said that the flowers were just normal flowers. I preformed every medical test that I could on Naruto, but nothing came up.” The women opened up a drawer of her desk and pulled out a thick file and dropped it on the desk. “I even pulled out what few files I have on my grandmother to see if maybe whatever is affecting Naruto has something to do with his Jinchūriki states, or maybe it is something that the Uzumaki clan suffers from but I can’t find anything. There are no records of anything like this happening to my grandmother. As far as I know there is nothing like this that affected any of the other Uzumaki clan members either.” 

She ran a hand through her hair as she stared down at the file that she had started to make the second she found out that Naruto was suffering from such a strange affliction. The file was filled with nothing but dead ends and vague guesses as to what Naruto's problem could be.

“Other than preforming more medical tests on him every week to see if anything changed I don’t know what to do.” Tsunade looked up from the file to stare right into Jiraiya’s eyes. “I never really knew Kushina. Not like you did. Did she ever mention something like this happening in her clan, or with her?”

“No,” Jiraiya said as he shook his head. “I never once heard her ever mention something like this to me.”

The man paused for a moment and quickly said “I can’t say I have ever heard of this on my travels either. This is the very first time I have ever heard of such a thing happening before.” 

Tsunade deflated a bit upon hearing that. She really had been hoping that maybe he had heard about something like this in his travels. It was at least part of the reason why she had called him back to the village. 

_‘Of course it would be too easy if Jiraiya knew anything about this,’_ Tsunade thought bitterly. 

She could already hear the sake bottles that she had hidden in her desk calling her name, but she resisted the urge to drink herself silly. As tempting as it was to get drunk off her ass doing so would not help Naruto at all. She could drink her weight in sake after this whole mess had been resolved. Tsunade sighed as she placed her head in her hands. Her mouth slid open to make a request to Jiraiya, but before any words could slip out of her mouth she heard someone knock on her door. 

“Tsunade-sama?” Sakura’s muffled voice called out from behind the closed door. “Ino and I need to talk to you. It’s about Naruto.”

“Enter,” Tsunade called out as she lifted her head up and leaned back in her seat. 

The girls quickly entered only pausing for a moment to shoot Jiraiya an inquisitive look, but they quickly ignored him in favor of giving the Hokage their attention.

“What have you found out?” Tsunade asked once the girls were standing in front of desk. 

Jiraiya leaned back against the wall and looked at the girl obviously curious to see what the girls were going to say.

“Have you figured out anything about Naruto’s condition?” Tsunade asked. 

“Maybe,” Ino said. “We talked to my father and he told us a rather interesting story that matched up a lot with what Naruto’s condition.”

“And what is this story?” Jiraiya asked. 

Ino took in a quick breath of air before she opened up the notebook that she was holding and started to read. Tsunade and Jiraiya listened to the happy version of the story, and the sad version of the story. If Tsunade had heard the story a month ago she would have just brushed it off as a typical fairy tale told to children. On its own it was not anything special. However, when compared to Naruto’s condition it was rather chilling. It was all too easy to picture Naruto in the place of the girl of the story. Tsunade could see Naruto slowly having the life strangled out of him by flowers. She could so easily see him just smile and say that it was OK that his love was not returned, and that he would slink away to just die in his apartment. It was way too easy for her to imagine. 

“Jiraiya,” Tsunade called out after Ino had stopped speaking. “Do you think there is any truth to the story?” 

Jiraiya was silent for a moment as the thought over Tsunade’s question. 

“I doubt that the whole story is true,” Jiraiya said after a few seconds had passed by. “But I do think there could be a kernel of truth to the tale. It’s rather common for faint tales to just be exaggerated versions of true stories or hysterical events.” 

The man glanced over at the girls and said “I think the true love thing was probably made up, but I can believe the part of someone ‘cursing’ a person. While it is mostly a lost art Curse Jutsu is most definitely a thing, and the few times I have seen said jutsu in action the results that the jutsu brought were not pretty to say the least.” 

“So this is worth investigating?” Tsunade asked.

“It is worth investigating,” Jiraiya conformed. 

“My dad said that a folklorist may have written about the tale, and that he would check the local bookstores to see what he could find,” Ino said.

“He suggested that we ask Jiraiya if he could ask his contacts if they could send any books that cover the history of the tale,” Sakura added.

“I think I got a few friends that could help. My own publisher tends to publish a few historical textbooks and the like, so someone in my publishing company might be able to point us in the right direction.” Jiraiya commented as a slight smile appeared on his face. 

Tsunade couldn’t believe it, but if someone at his publishing company could point them in the right direction then that would mean that his porn writing habits actually helped them for once. She didn’t know if she should be grateful for that, or horrified that they had to really on Jiraiya’s porn writing connections for help. 

Tsunade was almost thankful when Ino dragged her out of her thoughts by saying “There is something else we need to mention.”

Before Tsunade could ask what else they needed to talk about Sakura said “Naruto was able to become friends with the daimyo of the Land of Vegetables. Since she likes Naruto so much he thought maybe she would be willing to send any info our way.”

Jiraiya and Tsunade had two very different reactions to what Sakura said.

When Jiraiya heard her words he just shucked, shook his head, and said “I swear sometimes it seems like that kid can become friends with anyone if he puts his mind to it.”

As for Tsunade the second Sakura finished her sentence the Hokage was pulling out her best scroll and trying to write to the Land of Vegetables daimyo asking if she could get copies of every single book that they had on the flower legend on the politest way possible.

“Thank you girls for bringing all of this to my attention,” Tsunade said as she wrote out her request. “You are dismissed for now. Ino, inform your father if you see him that I might be calling him in tomorrow so I can ask him about what he has found out on his end, and so that I can ask my own questions about the legend.”

“Of course,” Ino said. 

The girls left after that, and the second they were gone Tsunade asked “Assuming it is a curse jutsu that we are dealing with here where exactly do you think Naruto could have picked it up from?”

“I have no idea. As far as I remember Hiruko didn’t know any curse jutsu back when he was still a part of our village.”

“Although, that doesn’t mean that he couldn’t have learned a few when he became a missing-nin,” Tsunade pointed out.

“True,” He said. “Although, I really don’t think it was Hiruko who cursed Naruto. Why bother trying to kill Naruto with such an apparently slow moving curse in the heat of battle? I can’t see him using it unless it was like a sort of final ‘screw you’ to Naruto.” 

Tsunade only shrugged. Privately she didn’t think Hiruko would have cursed Naruto in the end like that. According to Kakashi’s report of the incident when Hiruko was standing right in front of death’s door the man had voiced some regret over how he lived his life, and had moved on as peacefully as he could have. He didn’t seem to be in the right mindset to curse anyone at that moment, and if he had Tsunade was sure that Kakashi would have noticed. Tsunade was silent for a moment before she asked another question.

“Do you really think that love breaking the curse thing was just a made up part of the story?”

“I’m sure it was,” Jiraiya said without even the slightest hint of doubt. “For as great as love is I have never heard of love stopping a curse jutsu before. To me it just sounds like all the typical ‘true love beats all’ stuff that you hear in all fairy tales.”

“And what if it isn’t?” Tsunade asked softly. “What if love being returned really is the cure?”

“Then Naruto will have to confess to whoever it is that he loves, and if he is lucky they will return his love and he will be cured and gain a lover out of the whole mess.” 

“And if he isn’t lucky?”

Jiraiya looked away from Tsunade after he heard that question. He gazed down at the ground while his white hair blocked his eyes from view. Not that Tsunade had to see his eyes to know what he was feeling. She could see the man’s nails digging into his palm so hard it was starting to draw blood. He was silent for just long enough that Tsunade started to think that he would not answer, but just when she started to think that she heard Jiraiya finally start to speak. 

“If Naruto is unlucky he will die with a broken heart, and some poor bastard is going to live the rest of their life with guilt that they shouldn’t have. No one should be forced to love someone against their will, or because they think they have to. Someone forcing themselves to love someone that they truly don't love never works out in the end.” 

Jiraiya let out a soft sigh as he lifted his head up and gave Tsunade the most pained exhausted look that she had ever seen on his face. 

“Tsunade, for Naruto’s sake I hope that the cure to his curse isn’t love.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Aloe Vera Plant: Aloe Vera plants symbolize healing, protection, affection. However, it is also known to symbolize grief and sorrow in general. 
> 
> The Mirror of Matsuyama and Bunbuku Chagama: Both of these things are old Japanese folktales. The mirror story is bit more grounded in reality while the Banbuku Chagama story is more fantasy based. Give them a look up if you ever get the chance. They are pretty interesting folktales. 
> 
> Took a lot of inspiration from the Peddlers Escort Mission/Land of Vegetables arc from the anime here. Funny enough I'm not pulling the whole Ino has some Flower Ninja Art abilities from nowhere either. 
> 
> In a couple of the Naruto video games (the Ninja Storm game mostly with 4 sticking out the most in my memory) she has a few attacks that use flowers in some way or form.


	9. Jonquil flower

When Naruto stepped into the kitchen he couldn’t help but stop and just admire the scene before him. For most people what Naruto was watching wasn’t anything amazing. It was a man cooking breakfast in his kitchen. It was a simple scene that happened every morning in many different households in Konoha every morning. There was nothing unusual about it. Yet, Naruto couldn’t help but me enraptured. He had seen Kakashi cook campfire meals a few times during missions, but he had never seen the man cook in a normal kitchen before. It was actually rather nice to watch him cook. Kakashi seemed to be at peace as he cooked the tamagoyaki for breakfast. He was relaxed, but not in the super exaggerated way that he usually was. He was truly relaxed as he hummed a soft melody as his hips moved slightly side to side as if wanted to move to the melody he was humming, but felt just a bit too lazy to really do so. 

Bisuke was lying on the ground near the kitchen table happy chomping down on a meat treat that Kakashi had given him. He could even see Pakkun pulling out some meat treat out of a blue dog bowl that was clearly his if the name that had been written on it was any indication. Honestly, the dogs just helped set the scene and made the whole thing rather cozy. It helped that Kakashi’s kitchen looked warm and inviting in general.

Naruto had honestly expected Kakashi’s whole house to be rather spartan in looks, and that included the kitchen. He figured that Kakashi probably did the bare minimal with cooking, and that he didn’t do anything fancy. One look around the kitchen showed that this was not the case. He had a bookcase where a majority of the shelves were filled to the brim with cookbooks. Only the very top shelves were empty of any cookbooks, but instead they were stuffed to the brim with dog treats and canned goods. Naruto could see a rather impressive spice rack hanging on the wall, and on the fridge he could see a few different pictures of Kakashi’s nin-ken. 

Honestly, the whole kitchen felt cozy and used rather often. Naruto liked it. It was interesting to see Kakashi in such a place and situation, but truthfully seeing Kakashi so relaxed in such a cozy place was only half of the reason why Naruto enjoyed the view so much. Naruto had to admit that the other reason why he liked it so much was because this was the first time that he had ever woken up to have someone make him breakfast like this. The only thing that came close to this was when he was traveling with Jiraiya on his training trip, and honestly Naruto didn’t count that. Usually they stayed in hotels and the hotels would provide breakfast to them, and the rare few times when an inn didn’t have breakfast Jiraiya would just take him to eat at a restaurant.

The few times that they had to camp out Jiraiya didn’t do the cooking. The one and only time Jiraiya tried to cook a campfire meal for them Naruto learned real quick that the man could not cook to save his life. After one rather disastrous attempt to make curry rice went very **very** wrong Naruto just silently took that job over and never asked Jiraiya to cook again. Iruka had tried to cook for Naruto a few times, but cooking was a talent that his beloved sensei never got. Each attempt by Iruka to cook just ended with them going to Ichiraku Ramen to eat instead. This was sort of the first time that any close friend of Naruto’s had ever made a homemade meal for him like this. It was pretty nice. 

As Naruto stood there staring Kakashi glanced over at him. Instead of even being the least bit embarrassed by Naruto catching him humming or moving slightly to the melody the man just gave Naruto his infamous eye smile as he said “Good morning.”

“Good morning,” Naruto murmured as he gave the man a small smile.

“Go ahead and sit down at the table. I’m almost done with the eggs, and I got everything else finished already.”

A quick glance showed that Kakashi had indeed finished up everything else. The miso soup, rice bowls, and other typical dishes one expected to see during breakfast where already sitting at the table ready to go. Naruto slowly slid into one of the empty seats and watched as Kakashi continued cooking, and even better he continued his humming. His humming was a bit softer now, but Naruto could still hear it over the sounds Kakashi’s cooking. As he watched him Naruto couldn’t help but smile. At that moment Naruto couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like if he lived with Kakashi permanently, and if his love for Kakashi was returned. Would Kakashi do most of the cooking? Probably, the man seemed to enjoy it well enough. 

Although, Naruto would probably cook every now and again to give Kakashi a break. He wasn’t a great cook but he was competent enough. Much as he loved ramen a person couldn’t survive off of ramen alone, so Naruto had to learn a few simple recipes that he could make without too many ingredients. Either way regardless of who was cooking Naruto was sure that the mornings would always be the same. They would say good morning to each other, and chatter happily as one of them cooked. Maybe Kakashi would hum his nameless tunes as he set the table. Maybe they would exchange a kiss or two while they worked around each other to get breakfast ready.

God, Naruto wanted that so badly. He had always wanted to have someone to come home to. He wanted someone to say good morning to, and to make breakfast with. He wanted to wake up every morning and know that he had someone to come home to every day. He had wanted that for as long as he been alive. Right now he was getting the tiniest taste of what that would be like, and Naruto had to admit it was bittersweet. He loved this quiet moment. He loved being able to see Kakashi so relaxed. He loved being able to wake up and say good morning to someone. Yet, looming over this simple happy moment was one simple fact.

_This was not permanent._

This was all temporary. Eventfully Naruto would have to go back to his lonely apartment where no one would tell him good morning or welcome home. Naruto wanted his flower problem to just go away, but he was able to admit that he would probably end up missing little things like waking up and knowing someone would be there to say good morning to him. The blue eyed boy pulled himself out of his thoughts when Kakashi placed the plate of tamagoyaki down in front of him.

“Thanks for breakfast,” Naruto said as he watched Kakashi sit in the seat across from him.

“No problem,” Kakashi said. “I didn’t leave you waiting long for food did I?”

“No,” Naruto said. “I jumped into the shower as soon as I woke up. I only got out a minute or so ago.”

Naruto paused for a moment before he asked “So how should we do this?”

“Do what?” Kakashi asked. 

“I mean are you going to do that sneak eating thing, or should I just keep my gaze glued onto my food until you say I can eat without rushing?” Naruto asked.

Kakashi was clearly amused when he said “I can do the so called sneak eating if you like. It doesn’t really matter to me.”

“I don’t want you to rush eating in your own house. I can just keep my eyes glued to my plate until you are ready for me to look up again.” 

“Can I trust you not to look?” Kakashi teasingly asked. 

“Of course you can!” Naruto said. “I promise not to look unless you say it is OK!”

“Oh, well if I am getting a patented Naruto promise then I know I am safe. You never break a promise if you can help it.” 

Naruto could see his mask wrinkle up in such a way that it was clear that he was smiling underneath the fabric. He had that gentle warm look aimed right at Naruto. The sunlight streaming in from the window landed right on Kakashi and just made him seem to glow. Naruto could feel a blush start to stain his cheeks red.

 _‘You are such a sap,’_ Naruto mentally told himself. _‘The morning has barely even started and you are already gushing about Kakashi.’_

Naruto looked down and mumbled “You can take your mask off now.”

It was quiet for a moment before Kakashi said “Alright, no looking up now.”

“I won’t look up!” Naruto quickly said. “I can control myself! I’m not like how I was when I was twelve.”

“Uh-huh,” Kakashi said in a monotone voice. “And you didn’t try to take a peek at what I look like when I had only a blanket covering my face during my last hospital stay a couple months ago. I completely imagined that.” 

A blush of embarrassment was staining Naruto’s cheeks now. He remembered that moment. Kakashi had suffered from some chakra exhaustion after coming back from a rather hard mission. It wasn’t anything too serious, but Tsunade had pretty much marched him into the hospital herself to give him a checkup just to make sure. The hospital staff had forced him to stay at least overnight to make sure he would be fine. When he, Sakura, and Said had gone back in the morning to pick Kakashi up he had still been in bad and had been talking to Tsunade about something.

Naruto honestly couldn’t remember what they were chattering about, but he was pretty sure it was Tsunade basically telling Kakashi he needed to take better care of himself. What he did remember was that Kakashi had his face covered up with his blanket, and the blanket had slipped a little to revel that Kakashi hadn’t put his mask back on yet. Naruto had thought he had been rather subtle with his attempts to try and sneak a peak at what Kakashi looked like, but apparently he hadn’t been. Not that it really mattered. He hadn’t been able to see what Kakashi looked like much to his frustration. 

Naruto grumbled a little about Kakashi never forgetting things, but for the most part he was quiet as he finally started to eat the egg dish that Kakashi had put in front of him. One bite of the tamagoyaki caused Naruto to forget all about his mental grumbling in favor of getting lost in the delicious flavors that were now assaulting his senses. He had been so busy chattering with Kakashi that he hadn’t noticed that the man had put a few extra things in the tamagoyaki to give it some extra flavor. He could taste ham and cheese mixed into the perfectly cooked egg. It was good. It was so very good.

“Is it safe to assume that the blissful look on your face means that you like it?” Kakashi asked with amusement.

Naruto didn’t answer. He just continued to eat the tamagoyaki until there wasn’t even a small crumb of egg left.

“You need to make breakfast for me way more often from now on,” Naruto said. “I have been missing out.”

Kakashi’s soft laugh made Naruto smile a little. It was nice to hear him sound so relaxed.

“You have tried a few of my campfire meals,” Kakashi said. 

“I know,” Naruto said as he picked up the small bowl of miso soup to eat next. “And they were good, but they were not the same you know?”

“I know,” Kakashi said. “When on missions you either rely on solider pills, or whatever you can scrounge up while out on the field. For most missions you are given provisions, but they are more to make sure you get something filling rather than tasty.”

Naruto heard the sound of chopsticks clinking against plates and the sound of the dogs gnawing on their treats. It was a peaceful sort of silence that wasn’t awkward at all. 

Surprisingly, Kakashi broke the silence when he said “You know back before I became a sensei when I got assigned long-term missions with a group I would sneak a few non essentials for cooking like spices for taste, or anything that could help me make a good meal. When on a hard grueling mission sometimes a good tasty meal can help lighten the mood and keep someone from getting completely being stuck in a grim mindset. It’s not a cure to all your problems, but a good meal can help you feel a bit better.”

“Learn that on your own?”

“No, I learned it when I was a newbie in ANBU.” 

Naruto sat up a bit straighter upon hearing that. Naruto knew that Kakashi had been part of ANBU for a long time. It was sort of hard to miss it what with the ANBU tattoo on his arm and few heavy hints that Yamato, Kakashi, and Tsunade had dropped. However, with that said Kakashi never actually talked about the experience. He never talked about ANBU period. Sakura and Naruto never bothered to ask. While very few people knew exactly what ANBU missions were like everyone knew that ANBU agents take on the risky missions that are even a problem for jōnin ninjas, the extremely sensitive missions that could cause problems if ever discovered, or the rather disturbing missions. To some extent Naruto and Sakura were probably better off not knowing what sort of missions Kakashi had to take back when he was in ANBU. 

The one time they had ever discussed the subject Sai had randomly commented “His missions were probably not pleasant. They never are.” 

Sai had never said anything beyond that, but Naruto and Sakura never asked. If a ROOT agent (well technically ex-ROOT agent) was saying something like that then they really didn’t want to know. Not that it really mattered. Naruto and Sakura were not going to push the man to talk about it. If Kakashi ever wanted to talk about it they would be there to listen, but if he wanted to leave that part of his past alone for the rest of his life that was fine too. Naruto figured that it was a subject that would never be brought up, so it was a bit strange to hear him talk about it now of all times. 

Kakashi sounded almost lost in his memories when he said “There was an Akimichi ANBU member that took me under his wing. He wore a rabbit mask covered in green markings. He showed me the ropes, and he taught me how a good meal can help to improve morale while on a mission.” 

Naruto really wanted to look up and see what expression Kakashi had while he was talking about it. There was a bit of a sadness in his voice, but there was a bit of fondness there to like he was talking about someone he actually liked.

“Did he….?” Naruto slowly asked only to trail off.

Asking if the man died somehow didn’t seem like the greatest thing to ask over breakfast.

“Oh, he retired. He had been in ANBU for a long time then and he was starting to slow down in his old age. Teaching me how ANBU worked was sort of his last big job before he left.” 

Naruto could not help but mentally sigh in relief upon hearing that. He wasn’t sure what the mortality rate for ANBU was, but he was sure it wasn’t that great. It was a bit of a relief to hear that one positive interaction Kakashi had in ANBU had stayed alive and well. 

Feeling a bit more confident about asking questions now Naruto asked “Did you learn how to cook from him?”

“No, I already knew how to cook by the time I met him. He just showed me how good food can do wonders for a person’s mood. He also believed that cooking food together helped bring people together although I think that is a belief that all Akimichi clan members have.” Naruto could already imagine the slight shrug that Kakashi gave after saying that. “He did teach me a few cooking things though. Like banana boats for example.”

It only took a few seconds for Kakashi's words to register in his head, but once they did Naruto couldn't help but yell out in shock. 

“You learned how to make that in ANBU?!” 

“Yep!” Was Kakashi’s rather cheery sounding answer. “I’m not really big into sweets, but most people are. For some reason banana boats helped cheer up people once we finished a really rough mission.” 

It was a little weird to think that Kakashi learned how to make a sweet treat in ANBU of all places. Naruto could remember the memory that was attached to the treat. Kakashi had showed them how to make it when they were coming back from a rather disastrous mission. The mission itself was simple. They were to protect a group of merchants from any thieves. That part of the mission was fine. It went smoothly and they didn’t run into any thieves. However, everything that happened during the trip with the merchants was less than happy. It rained cats and dogs during the whole trip to the town that the merchants wanted to go to, so that meant they suffered through a full week of storms. Sasuke’s tent had gotten destroyed in the middle of the week due to the storm resulting in him having to share a tent with Naruto. It was a tight fit and by the end of the week Naruto and Sasuke were at each other’s throats due to having to share such a cramped space for so long.

One of the merchant’s kids had chucked Sakura’s shoes into the forest just to be a jerk, and while they looked for the shoes they never did find them. They ended up having to leave the shoes behind just to stay on schedule. Luckily, one of the ladies in the group had a pair of shoes that Sakura could borrow but they were a bit too big. A majority of the merchants’ kids were brats too, and they kept up the bratty behavior through the whole trip. By the time they had dropped the merchants off at their destination Team 7 was just fed up with everything. Before they left the city to return home Kakashi had gone on a quick grocery shopping trip and a trip to grab Sakura a pair of replacement shoes.

He didn’t say what sort of food he brought until they were back in the Country of Fire and were at least halfway home. When they stopped to set up camp Kakashi had suddenly broke out the bananas, bags of marshmallows, and chocolate chips. He then showed them how to make banana boats. You cut a banana open lengthwise, shove as many chocolate chips and marshmallows as you want into the thing, wrapped it in aluminum foil, and cooked in the embers left over from the campfire.

For as weird as it was it was actually pretty nice. Naruto skipped over the marshmallows to just shove as many chocolate chips as he could into his banana boat. Sasuke used more marshmallows then chocolate chips for his while Sakura used an even amount of both. Kakashi used so few chocolate chips in his banana boat that it ended up being more like a cooked banana with a hint of chocolate rather than a true banana boat, but it was his boat so he was free to do what he wanted with it.

It had actually been rather fun. The mission had been complete, and they were in a safe place where they could be at least a little loud and energetic without fear. They could relax and not worry as they vented over a rather frustrating mission. It was sort of the last happy memory that Naruto had of Team 7 when Sasuke was still there. Soon after they returned from that mission they had entered the chūnin exams and then everything went downhill from there.

Naruto never did have a banana boat again after that, but the food item always made him think of that one happy moment. Although, now that he thought about how Kakashi learned that in ANBU of all places he couldn’t rid himself of the mental image of a bunch of high skilled serious all business ninjas in animal masks sitting around a campfire making banana boats of all things. Hell, he could even picture a few of them fighting over a bad of chocolate chips. It was a very strange image if Naruto was being honest.

Eventually Naruto was able to say “I haven’t had a banana boat since I was twelve.”

“We could make some sometime this week if you like.”

“Really?” Naruto couldn’t help but say in surprise.

“Sure,” Kakashi said. “There is no reason why we can’t. Could get the team together and eat a few. As far as I know everyone in the team but Sai has tried banana boats. Might as well have him try it too.” 

“And what? Have it be like Team 7 initiation? You aren’t a true member of Team 7 until you had a banana boat with the rest of the team?”

“I’m fine with it being a Team 7 thing,” Kakashi commented. “There are certainly worse initiations out there.”

“I’m holding you to it then,” Naruto said. “Got to have a campfire banana boat party to officially welcome Sai onto the team after all.” 

“I’ll set something up once Yamato is back from his mission.” 

“You promise?” Naruto teased.

“I promise,” Kakashi said, and while his tone was light it was very clear to Naruto that Kakashi intended to keep that promise. 

Satisfied with the idea of a banana boat party later Naruto quickly finished up his soup. It was rather good. Not as good as the tamagoyaki, but it was pretty close. 

“So if you didn’t learn how to cook an ANBU how did you learn?” 

“I’m mostly self-taught,” Kakashi said. “My mother died when I was really young so she never got the time to really teach me anything. As for my father….”

The man trailed off at the mention of his father. 

He stayed silent for just long enough that it was starting to become uncomfortable, but eventually Kakashi said “He wasn’t around for very long to teach me much. He showed me basic things like how to cook rice and grill fish, but for the most part I had to figure things out by myself or with the help of cookbooks.” 

Naruto almost sighed with relief when Kakashi went back to sounding a bit more relaxed when he said “I used to not really do much cooking. I just made simple things that would fill me up and called it enough. When I was really young I sort of considered anything outside of training and missions to be a waste of time.” 

From how Kakashi described his younger self that bit of information wasn’t surprising. According to Kakashi the only thing that mattered to him when he was young was the mission. Anything beyond being the perfect ninja just didn’t matter. It was really hard to imagine Kakashi being like that now. 

_‘I wonder how well I would have gotten along with the younger Kakashi?’_ Naruto couldn’t help but silently think.

Honestly, they probably would have butted heads rather often to the point that they probably would have argued more than actually just talk. Naruto supposed it wouldn’t have mattered if they would get along or not. Naruto liked Kakashi as he was now and he wouldn’t trade him for anything. It wasn’t like he could go back to the past and interact with a younger Kakashi anyway.

Naruto allowed those thoughts to drift away when he heard Kakashi say “My Sharingan uses up a lot of chakra, and unlike some people that I know I don’t have an almost never-ending pool of chakra.”

“Sounds like a personal problem,” Naruto joked as a weak smile appeared on his face.

Kakashi let out a small snort of amusement upon hearing that although he made no real comment toward it. 

Instead he said “Anyway, I need to eat a lot sometimes to restore my chakra. I just learned real quick that making hearty delicious meals helped me restore my charka a lot better and faster than simple bare bones meals like a bowl of rice did. I also thought cooking food that I actually really liked was at least a good way to sort of reward myself for a mission well done, so I started picking up cookbooks from all over the place that held recipes that I thought looked good during my more low-key missions or during missions that required me to stay in place for a long time. Before I knew it I had a collection of cookbooks that had recipes for foods that you usually can’t get in the Leaf Village.”

“Like what?”

“Various stews from the Land of Snow, noddle dishes from the Land of Noodles, a few tropical dishes from the Land of the Moon. Things like that.”

“Could we try a few of them while I’m staying with you?” Naruto asked the second Kakashi stopped speaking.

“I’m a little surprised to hear you ask that,” Kakashi said. “I figured you would try to talk me into getting ramen every night.”

“I mean of course I’m going to try to get ramen as much as I possibly can,” Naruto said as he rolled his eyes as if Kakashi even suggesting that Naruto wouldn’t do such a thing was downright ridicules. “Still, now that I know that you are a really good cook I might as well take advantage of it since I’m staying here. Besides I want to try out some new foods. Who knows? Maybe some of them will be almost as good as ramen.”

“Maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised after all,” Kakashi joked. “You can look up now.”

Naruto finally looked up to see that Kakashi had put his mask back on. Kakashi got up and started gathering the dishes as he said “Anyway, I have no problem with breaking out a few of cookbooks and trying out a few of the recipes while you are here.”

“Great!” Naruto chirped out. “Oh, and before I forget we just totally established that you learned how to really cook because of an ANBU agent who cheered up other ANBU agents with food and so that you could keep your magic eye running didn’t we?” 

Kakashi stilled for a moment upon hearing that. He seemed to think over Naruto’s words for a few seconds before he chuckled and shook his head and continued dealing with the dishes.

“I guess you aren’t technically wrong.” 

Naruto grinned, but his grin faded when he felt a small paw get pressed against his leg. He looked down only to see Pakkun sitting there giving him a look that said _‘It’s time to tell Kakashi what happened.’_

Naruto’s smile completely faded away upon that thought. 

“Sorry kid,” Pakkun said with a voice full of honest regret. “I don’t want to ruin the happy moment, but he needs to know.”

“I need to know what?” Kakashi asked. 

Naruto looked up from the pug only to see Kakashi was leaning up against the sink and staring right at Naruto. All humor and joy that the man had been wearing was gone only to be replaced with a look of utmost seriousness. Naruto couldn’t help but inwardly flinch at the look. It was sad how quickly all the joy in the room had been sucked out of the room. It had been so easy to forget about all of his problems when he was eating good food and happily chatting away with Kakashi.

_‘Maybe that Akimichi ANBU agent was on to something about good food getting your mind off bad things,’_ Naruto thought. 

He could feel something leaning up against his leg and when he looked down he saw Bisuke leaning up against him as if to give Naruto a tiny bit of comfort. Naruto could not help but smile a little at the attempt. Out of all of Kakashi’s ninken Bisuke was Naruto’s favorite. The dog seemed to be able to read Naruto so well, and in general Naruto liked his laidback attitude. He reached down and picked the small dog up and placed him in his lap. Once he had Bisuke in a comfortable position he started to pet the dog. Bisuke made no complaints or comments. He must have known that Naruto needed to do something while he talked just to keep himself calm. Naruto let out a small sigh as he stared down at the dog in his lap.

“I spoke to the fox last night.” 

Naruto didn’t dare to look up and see how Kakashi would react to that bit of news.

It was silent in the kitchen for only a moment before Kakashi asked “What did he say?”

“He asked what the hell was wrong with me,” Naruto said. “He had no idea what the deal was with my flower problem, and he made it very clear that none of his jailers before me had ever suffered from such a problem. Whatever was going on wasn’t his fault.” 

“Do you think he was lying?”

“No,” Naruto said as he shook his head. “Wrapped around the bars of his cage were these vines and on the vines were all of the flowers that I had coughed up. He said that the vines would not be able to break open his cage.”

Naruto frowned a bit as he remembered the fox’s other words. “He seemed rather disappointed that he wouldn’t be able to escape.” 

“The fox’s cage is showing signs of being affected by the flowers? That’s concerning,” Naruto heard Kakashi murmur. “Did he say anything else?”

“He said he was pretty sure that I was being affected by a curse, and that he is sure that I have had the curse for a long time. It just activated now.”

Naruto was waiting for Kakashi to brush that off and say that curses were not real. That wasn’t what happened. Instead Kakashi was rather silent for a very long time. Naruto glanced up only to see that Kakashi seemed to be lost in thought. He wasn’t even looking at Naruto anymore. He was staring down at the ground his one visible eye narrowed in such a way that made it clear that the gears in his hear were clearly turning as he thought over Naruto’s words.

“Is… Is being cursed possible?” Naruto hesitantly asked.

“It’s possible.”

That wasn’t the answer that Naruto wanted to hear. 

“There are such a thing as curse jutsu. It’s mostly a lost art, and for good reason.” 

“What reason is that?”

“From what I understand a lot of curse jutsu could easily backfire horribly. One small mistake would cause horrific consequences to the user ranging from losing limbs, permanently damaging charka coils, and straight up death. You also usually needed a lot of chakra and a decent amount of chakra control to use curse jutsu, and some curse jutsu required the use of materials that were not easy to get ahold of. Not a lot of people could use it due to all of these problems.” The man shrugged. “A lot of curse jutsu also took way too long to take effect. Some could take days, months, or even occasionally years to really kick in. When you are in a life or death fight right then and there you don’t exactly have days to wait for your enemy to keel over. Even if you had the time and the curse took hold without hurting you there was no grantee that it was permanent. Plenty of curses have ways to break them.” 

“How do you know all of this?” Naruto could not help but ask. 

“You really need to open up a history book one of these days,” Kakashi said. “Curse jutsu was used often during the warring states period, but it fell out of favor near the tail end of that period. Curse jutsu was just more trouble than it was worth, and a lot of curse jutsu were lost due to the endless fighting. Scrolls regarding curse jutsu were destroyed so others couldn’t use it or just because some people found the curses too barbaric to use against other people so they thought it was best to destroy them, or the people who knew how to use them were killed during the endless fighting before they could pass their knowledge on curse jutsu on. By the time that the Hidden Villages were starting to be built attitudes toward curse jutsu had soured as well. It was seen less as a truly useful fighting technique, and just a spiteful way to stick it to someone in the worst way possible. Curse jutsu as a whole were labeled as Forbidden Jutsu soon after most of the villages were established, and that was sort of the end of it.”

“So it is actually possible for me to be cursed by this curse jutsu stuff?” Naruto asked. 

“Yes, it is possible.” 

Naruto buried his face into Bisuke’s fur upon hearing that. He didn’t like hearing that. He didn’t like hearing any of that. It just made it even more possible for the whole _‘you falling in love caused the curse to kick in’_ to be true. He felt the dog lick his cheek in some small attempt to comfort him, and while Naruto appreciated the effort it really didn’t help him feel all that much better.

He could hear Kakashi talking in the background saying “If it truly is a curse jutsu who could have placed it on you? When could they have placed it on you? Why would they give you such a strange curse?”

“I don’t know,” Naruto answered honestly.

Kakashi didn’t say anything for a moment and Naruto didn’t dare look up. He just focused all of his attention on petting Bisuke.

“Is there anything else I should know?” Kakashi asked. 

_I’m in love with you, and my love for you might be killing me._

That thought sprang to the forefront the second after Kakashi asked his question. Honestly, the fact that Naruto thought that at all made him feel sick. He wasn’t sure of if that was really true. There was nothing that made it clear to him that it was true at all, but he couldn’t deny it that the possibility of it being true was rather strong. Hell, what the fox said when Naruto asked what could have possibly be causing this still rang loudly in his head. 

**Stupid boy don’t ask questions that you already know the answer to.**

Naruto inwardly flinched upon thinking of that. It was hard to stay in denial when an ancient fox spirit that probably knows way more then you says something like that. Naruto didn’t need to confess per say, but he still couldn’t bring himself to even hint that being in love with someone was causing his problem. It was probably just him pushing it off as much as he can, but honestly he didn’t want to say anything until he knew without a doubt that love really was the cause. Maybe he was deep in denial. Hell, he probably was. 

However, Naruto didn’t want to say something that could end up irreversibly changing his relationship with Kakashi in possibly horrible ways. He couldn’t lose Kakashi because of one wrong confession or a thing said at the wrong time. He had lost so much trying to get what few precious people that he had that losing one always tore him apart inside. Losing Sasuke was like having a nail driven through his heart. When he thought Gaara was gone forever it felt his heart was being torn to pieces. Naruto didn’t even want to imagine how it would feel to lose Kakashi. All he did know was that if he lost him due to his own feelings Naruto would fall apart, and it would take a long time to heal from that.

“Naruto?”

“I coughed up a few flower petals in the shower,” Naruto blurted out. 

“Are you alright?” Kakashi asked quickly. “Where you in pain?”

“I’m fine,” Naruto said. “It didn’t hurt, and I didn’t even cough up a full flower. It was just a few petals.”

“Why didn’t say anything about it earlier?”

“I didn’t want to ruin the moment,” Naruto muttered. “Everything was so calm and happy I didn’t want to ruin the mood right away. I was going to say something the second breakfast was done.”

Kakashi sighed and Naruto forced himself to look up at Kakashi. The second Kakashi saw that Naruto was looking at him Kakashi gave him a serious look.

“I understand why you pushed it off, but from now on please tell me when you cough up flowers as soon as you can alright?”

“Okay.” 

“Promise me.” 

“I promise.”

Upon getting a promise from Naruto Kakashi relaxed slightly. 

“Did you know what flower you coughed up this time?” 

“No, the petals got washed down the drain before I could grab one. The petals were pink if it helps any.”

It probably didn’t help at all and Naruto knew it. There were hundreds of flowers out there that could be pink. Kakashi let out a soft sigh as he slipped out of his chair.

“We need to tell the Hokage about your interaction with the fox.”

Naruto nodded as he finally let Bisuke down and stood up. Bisuke gave him a look that made it very clear that the dog was worried about him, but Naruto tried his best to ignore it.

“You need us to go with you?” Pakkun asked. 

“We should be good for now,” Kakashi said. “But I’ll probably be calling on you again soon.”

“Alright,” The little pug said as he moved his gaze away from Kakashi and over to Naruto.

“See you later kid.”

“You better take care of yourself while we are gone,” Bisuke added. 

With that said both dogs disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Naruto was about to move out of the kitchen so that he could grab his shoes, but just when he reached the doorway he heard Kakashi say “Catch!”

Naruto quickly snatched whatever it was that Kakashi tossed at him out of the air. He glanced down at what Kakashi had given him only to freeze slightly when he saw what it was. It was a key which wasn’t what caused Naruto to freeze. What made Naruto freeze was the dog keychain attached to it. It looked just like Bisuke down to his little blue vest and the dark brown rings around his eyes. Someone had clearly added Kakashi’s symbol and Bisuke forehead mark on with permanent marker. 

“It’s the key to my house,” Kakashi said rather nonchalantly. “I got it made this morning for you.” 

“And the keychain?” 

“Saw it when I was getting the key made for you. I figured your Pakkun keychain could use a friend. Might as well collect the whole pack if you can, right?”

Kakashi was silent for a moment after saying that, but then he said something that Naruto wasn’t expecting.

“Besides I thought you could do with a few more reminders of me and the pack.”

Kakashi quickly scurried out of the room before his words registered in Naruto’s head. Once the words clicked in his head the blue eyed boy could not help but smile, but the smile was a bitter one. He appreciated that Kakashi had gotten him such a thing, and that he had even bothered to remember what he said about the Pakkun keychain. 

Hell, he was downright thrilled that someone got him a gift just because they were thinking of him. There was no ulterior motive or special event tied into the gift. It was just given to him because Kakashi wanted to give it to him. That was it. For a boy who rarely ever got gifts ever it meant the world to him to get such a thing. Yet, that joy was overshadowed by his flower problem and the less then happy conversation that they had right after breakfast was over. Naruto sighed as he shoved the key and keychain into his pocket. As he walked around the house getting ready to leave a dark pit of worry formed in his stomach while a dark voice in his head whispered a thought that he tried, and failed, to ignore. 

_**‘As long as you have that flower problem any joy that you have is going to be overshadowed by your curse. There can be no true joy for as long as you are cursed.’**_

Sometimes Naruto really hated that pessimistic part of himself, but for as much as he hated that negative part of his brain there was no lie in that dark thought that haunted his mind. As long as he suffered from this curse any joy would be quickly washed away by his condition. It was almost funny really. For as strange as the curse was Naruto was quickly figuring out that it was rather effective in making him miserable… 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------

_Just when I think I hit rock bottom someone throws me a shovel._

That was a line Naruto had read once in Jiraiya’s Icha Icha Tactics book. Naruto had been the unfortunate bastard who had to proof read the book back when Jiraiya was writing it while they were on their training trip. He didn’t much care for the book if he was being honest. With that said there were a few lines in the book that Naruto rather liked, or at least the lines were special enough to stick out in his memory. There was one line that the woman main character said about hitting rock bottom that really stuck out to him. While not a deep thought provoking line by any means it stayed with him if only due to the insane amount of bad luck that the character who spoke the line had gone through. 

At the time that moment stuck with Naruto because he felt sorry for the character. He could sympathize with her, but he couldn’t really relate. He had his fair share of problems, but none of them were really love related. His small crush on Sakura had faded away a year or so into his training trip, and even at its height it never caused him that many problems. Honestly, Naruto figured his love life would never get as complicated as the love stories one would see in an Icha Icha book. However, Naruto was starting to think he was a fool for ever thinking that his love life would be simple. Figuring out that he was in love with Kakashi just seemed to kick off a line of events that Naruto desperately wished would just stop. He figured out his feelings only to start coughing up flowers. No one knew what the deal with the flowers was, and even the most famous medic in the world had no answers.

The fox that he has sealed in his gut point blank told him that his flower problem was most likely the result of a curse that he could have had for who knows how long, and said curse probably activated when he figured out that he was in actually in love with someone for the first time in his life. Any hopes that curses were impossible to have died a quiet death when Kakashi confirmed that being cursed, while rare, was possible. To top it all off Naruto had no idea how Kakashi felt about him, and there was a real fear that if he confessed he would be rejected and that Kakashi would not want anything to do with him anymore. Naruto’s troubles kept getting bigger and bigger with each passing second. It reached a point where after hearing about curses being possible he figured that was it. He had reached rock bottom. 

Of course right when he started thinking that was the moment that Tsunade handed him a shovel. 

Maybe he should have expected having the shovel handed to him. Having the happy feelings from breakfast get snuffed out almost immediately was a sign that nothing was going to get much better. If that hadn’t been the sign Naruto needed, then his walking into the Hokage’s office should have hammered it in for him. When he and Kakashi walked into the office Tsunade was writing what seemed like a letter. Jiraiya was there too and he was also writing what seemed like letters. He already had a stack of letters sitting on the floor next to him as he wrote. When he spotted Naruto he gave the boy the weakest smile that Naruto had ever seen on his face. 

“Hey kid,” Jiraiya said. 

That comment caused Tsunade to look up from her work. 

“Naruto,” She said as she nodded in greeting to the boy only to then look over at Kakashi. “Kakashi.” 

Deciding to cut right to the chase Kakashi said “We got more info on Naruto’s condition.”

“Report,” Tsunade ordered immediately as stopped writing to give her attention to Kakashi. 

Kakashi was the one who told them about everything involving the fox and him coughing up a few flower petals this morning. Naruto was glad that Kakashi was doing almost of the explaining while he only needed to chime in every once in a while to answer any extra questions. When Tsunade heard the bit about a curse a worried look appeared on her face, but she was quick to get rid of it. Meanwhile, a grim look had appeared on his face and it didn’t go away. When Kakashi had stopped talking Tsunade had only stared at them for a moment before she sighed. 

“I have something I need to tell you.” 

Right after she said that she told them what she had learned on her side of things, and by doing so she pulled the rug right out from underneath Naruto. She went on about some legend about a girl who was cursed to cough up flowers once she had fallen in love. She had also shared the two endings. The first ending where she confessed her love and her love was accepted so she was cured and able to live the big fat happily ever after ending that existed in the cheesiest of romance stories. In the other ending her love was rejected and she accepted it. She died alone choking on flowers with her village only finding her dead cold corpse surrounded by all of the flowers that had strangled the life out of her. Upon hearing that story Naruto almost wanted to laugh and cry at the same time.

 _‘Well, there it is!’_ The hopeless hysterical part of himself shouted in his head. _‘There is your proof! You are cursed! You were cursed so that you could never find love! You must have done something awful in a past life because someone clearly hates you and wants you to suffer!’_

Naruto didn’t even try to deny it now. Denial would serve him no purpose here. The story was way too damn similar to his problem to just be a coincidence. There was just no denying it now. He was cursed, and unless the Land of Vegetables sent Tsunade a book that had a possible cure in it there was only two ways this could end. Either Kakashi loved him and he was saved, or Kakashi didn’t love him and he was dead. Naruto couldn’t help but morbidly wonder if it was too late to create a will yet. 

While Naruto felt gutted Kakashi just looked lost. When Tsunade has started her tale Kakashi took on his lazy _‘nothing ever bothers me’_ slouch. Yet, as the story went on and Tsunade shared the bad ending of the tale Kakashi never left his lazy slouch, but he did seem to almost curl up into himself a bit. Naruto was sure the only reason he spotted it was because learning how to read body language was a necessity when your teacher always kept a majority of his face covered up, but even if it was almost hard to spot it was still there. He had this sort of distant look in his eye as if he were a hundred miles away and deeply lost in his own mind. When Tsunade had finally stopped talking it was clear that she knew that they were not exactly reacting well to their news. Jiraiya wasn’t even looking at them now. He was staring down at the ground all while wearing a look that was rather similar to the look Kakashi was wearing.

“So what now?” Naruto asked softly. “We just wait for more information from the Land of Vegetables and Jiraiya’s contacts to come in?”

“There isn’t much more that we can do,” Tsunade said, and sounding rather unhappy about it as well. “We can continue to monitor your condition and make sure nothing gets any worse, but until we get more information there isn’t anything else that we can do.” 

She paused for a moment as she stared at Naruto. She looked like she was unsure of if she should continue. Apparently she decided that she was going to go ahead and just say what she was thinking. 

“You might want to think about if you are truly in love with anyone,” She said softly. “Just in case.” 

Naruto could not help but be impressed that he was actually able to keep himself from looking at Kakashi after she said that. Tsunade waited for the blond to say something, but when Naruto said nothing she let out a soft sigh and then said “I’ll keep you informed on any information that we get. You are dismissed for now.” Naruto ended up walking out of the building in a daze while Kakashi wasn’t in a much better state. The two of them walked down the road in silence. Kakashi didn’t even pull out one of his books as they walked along.

When they were about halfway to Kakashi’s house Kakashi bluntly asked “Are you still in love with Sakura?” 

Naruto let out a sputtered gasping noise upon hearing that.

“What?! No!” Naruto quickly denied. “Sakura is my best friend, and I love her like a sister I never had. I don’t love her romantically.”

Kakashi seemed to relax a tiny bit upon hearing that, but he still seemed rather tense.

“It…” The man said only to stop talking. 

He hesitated for a moment before he dropped his tone down to a whisper. “It isn’t Sasuke is it?” 

“No,” Naruto responded without a single second of hesitation. “Sasuke is like my brother. I care for him a lot, but I’m not romantically interested in him.” 

Kakashi actually relaxed upon hearing that, but it looked like he wasn’t done with his line of questioning. Mercifully, someone out there decided to have a bit of pity on Naruto because Kakashi wasn’t given any time to continue his questioning. Two men wearing green had chosen that moment to drop in on them.

“Dynamic entry!” 

Guy literally dropped down in front of them from the sky and graced them with his infamously large grin. By his side was Lee who was also posing in a similar manor as his beloved teacher.

“Kakashi my hip and cool rival it has been way too long since we have had one of our challenges! I have come to remedy that! I challenge you to a taijutsu sparring match! If I lose I will run fifty laps around the village on my hands!”

Kakashi only blinked a few times upon hearing that. The man really looked like he didn’t know how he should respond to the challenge. 

Lee was smiling at Naruto as he said “We can train a bit while Guy-sensei and Kakashi-sensei are fighting, Naruto! It has been a while since I have tested myself against you!”

“No,” Kakashi quickly snapped. “Naruto isn’t going to be doing any training right now.”

Lee’s smile vanished upon hearing that. Guy’s large grin faded a bit although unlike Lee it didn’t completely go away. However, Naruto could see the calculated look that Guy was giving Kakashi.

Naruto gave Lee a week smile as he said “I’m on medical leave right now. Obaa-chan says I’m not allowed to push myself.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry Naruto I didn’t know you were not feeling well!” Lee said. 

“It’s okay,” Naruto said as he shrugged slightly. “I’m alright for now.”

Guy’s smile disappeared upon hearing the _‘for now’_ bit of Naruto’s sentence. He honestly hadn’t meant for that to mean anything special, but with how tense Kakashi was looking right now and Naruto actually following the Hokage’s medical orders for once maybe he shouldn’t have been surprised by the fact that Guy was reading more into that sentence then Naruto really wanted him to.

Trying to push the attention off of himself Naruto quickly said “You can still have the challenge fight with Guy-sensei. You shouldn’t have to give up training just because you have to take care of me. I can sit on the sidelines.”

Kakashi stared at him for a long time before he let out a soft almost inaudible sigh. 

“Alright,” Kakashi said. “But if Naruto’s condition starts acting up the match is ending immediately even if there is no winner.”

“Of course!” Guy quickly agreed. “I would never dream of putting our challenges above the health and safety of your young ward!” 

Kakashi let out an almost inaudible sigh as he asked “Is the third training ground acceptable?” 

“That would be a splendid place for our challenge!” 

With those words shouted out a bit too loudly the group started to make their way to the training ground. Kakashi was quick to pull out his book and bury his face into it as if that would somehow silence Guy. If anything the presence of the book seemed to make Guy even louder. As they walked Naruto wasn’t oblivious to the fact that Lee was shooting him the occasional worried look. Guy was cheerily chattering on about the challenge although Naruto noticed that the man would give Naruto an occasional look that was equally worried and calculating. Although more interestingly Naruto was quick to notice that Guy was giving Kakashi the same calculated worried look. Naruto honestly couldn’t figure out why the man was giving Kakashi that look. He thought about it the whole way down to the training ground, and by the time they reached the training field Naruto still didn’t have an answer.

Naruto sighed as he leaned back against one of the wooden posts that were there on the raining ground and slowly slid down into a sitting position. Lee plopped down onto the ground next to him while Guy and Kakashi took their places in the empty field in front of Naruto and Lee. Guy had fallen silent upon taking his place and a look of seriousness was now on his face. Kakashi’s book had been shoved back into his pouch and he was giving Guy an equally serious look. Both men stared at each other for a moment before they quickly started to brawl.

It was fascinating to watch really. Both men were rather speedy although they had their own small quirks in their fighting styles. Each strike that Guy made clearly had a lot of strength behind them and he attacked with percussion that made it clear that each attack was carefully planned out. Kakashi was much more fluid in his movement. He could duck and weave so gracefully that it was almost like watching a dancer move. Watching them fight was memorizing, but Naruto had to admit that it was a bit aggravating to watch them train and know that he couldn’t train as well. All he could do was watch from the sidelines. 

“Naruto?” 

Naruto moved his gaze off of the two sparing jōnin in order to look over at Lee. Once Naruto was looking at him Lee asked “If you don’t mind me asking why were you put on medical leave?”

Naruto dropped his voice down to a whisper and said “We don’t know everything yet, but everyone is pretty sure that I’m under the effects of a curse jutsu.” 

“Hiruko?” Lee questioned as he lowered his voice to match Naruto’s voice. 

Naruto shook his head. “No, it is not due to him. As far as I know I had this curse for a while now, but it activated recently.”

“What does it do?”

“It makes me cough up flowers,” Was Naruto’s blunt answer. 

Lee blinked a few times in surprise upon hearing that only to blurt out “That’s different.”

Naruto let out a small snort of amusement upon hearing that, but said nothing more. To say that his curse was different was a bit of an understatement.

“Have they figured anything out yet?”

“They got a pretty strong theory as to how to treat it, but nothing confirmed yet. Baa-chan and Ero-sennin are reaching out to a few people that they think can help.”

“I’m sorry to hear that there is no real answers yet my friend. I know all too well how frustrating it is to have to wait on the sidelines.”

 _‘I guess out of all of my friends Lee would be the one who somewhat understands how I feel,’_ Naruto thought. 

Lee had been on medical leave for a long time when Gaara had seriously injured him. He knew all too well how frustrating it was to be forced to wait around on the sidelines unable to train or go on missions for who knows how long. Naruto had felt bad for Lee back then, but now he was able to empathize with the boy on a whole new level. 

“You said that they had a strong theory as to how to treat you. What is the theory?” 

Naruto didn’t answer that at first. He wasn’t sure if he even wanted to answer it. How does one explain that the only cure to your illness was by confessing your love and having your love returned?

“Apparently if I confess my love to someone it might break the curse,” Naruto eventually said.

“Truly?” Lee said in surprise. “What an amazing way to break a curse! It sounds like something right out of a fairy tale!” 

Considering how much heartache this was causing him amazing was the very last word that Naruto would use to describe the situation.

“Who are you in love with?” 

That question caused Naruto to freeze up a bit. He asked that like it was such a simple question. Heck, maybe to Lee it was. The man was clearly in love with Sakura and he had been carrying a torch for her for years now. Everyone knew it and he never hid it. Lee was able to confess so easily. Naruto could not. He could not even confess to a friend. It was ridicules really. Knowing Lee he wouldn’t judge him at all. Hell, Lee would probably be very enthusiastic about helping Naruto confess. He would probably be standing in the background giving Naruto a thumbs up the whole time the blond was trying to confess to Kakashi. However, support or not Naruto couldn’t bring himself to say anything.

_How hard is it to say out loud that you are in love with Kakashi?_

“I…” Naruto started to say only to freeze. 

The words were right there just begging to be said, but he couldn’t force the words out of his mouth. 

_I’m in love with Kakashi._

Five simple words, and yet for Naruto just trying to say those words brought his world to a screeching halt. He couldn’t say anything at all even though he desperately wanted to. He couldn't say it to a friend, and he sure as hell could not say it to Kakashi. As he sat there it was starting to become very clear to Naruto that he couldn’t confess unless he knew for sure that Kakashi would return his feelings. That realization caused his heart to ache. A single cough escaped from his lips only to have a bunch of yellow flowers come spilling out of his mouth.

“Naruto!”

Naruto looked up just in time to see Kakashi grab Guy before the man could kick him and fling Guy into a tree. It happened so fast that even Guy seemed surprised by just how quickly his rival had flung him to the side. Of course any surprise Guy had over that was gone the second the man was able to get back onto his feet and look over at Naruto to see what Kakashi was yelling about. One look at Naruto caused Guy’s face to become completely blank. It was just void of all emotion as he stared at Naruto as the blond coughed up one yellow flower after another. It was honestly unsettling to see such an expressive man look so emotionless, but Naruto didn’t get very much time to study Guy. Kakashi was by his side in a heartbeat, and his appearance pushed any concerns that Naruto had about Guy right out of his head.

“I’m here,” Kakashi said as he let Naruto lean up against him. “I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere.” 

Naruto couldn’t respond to that due to the flowers, but he was happy that Kakashi was there with him. It felt like the flower attack lasted for hours, but it was probably only five minutes or so. By the time it stopped Naruto had a lap full of bright yellow flowers. It felt like all of his energy had been sapped away, and Naruto just slumped against Kakashi.

“You alright?” Kakashi asked. 

_‘I’m tired,’_ Was Naruto’s first thought upon hearing that question although he didn’t say that out loud. 

He just shrugged a little, and even that small gesture seemed to suck what little energy that he had out of him.

“Kakashi?” Naruto said softly. 

He looked up at his sensei and said the one line that had been bouncing around in his head sense the happy mood from breakfast had vanished. 

“Just when I think I hit rock bottom someone throws me a shovel.”

Kakashi’s visible eye widened slightly upon hearing that little line. He probably realized just what Naruto had referenced right there. Naruto only got to enjoy the fact that he surprised Kakashi for once for a brief few seconds before he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep. As he fell asleep he hoped that he wouldn’t end up having to talk to the fox. The very last thing he needed right now was to have the fox say **‘I told you so’**. Besides he already knew what the fox would say. Heck, as he drifted off to sleep he could swear that he could hear the fox whispering in his head. 

**“Your fears that your love activated your curse were true. You must have been born under a cursed star because you have awful luck kid.”**

For once in his life Naruto had to agree with the fox. It was clear that someone out there had it out for him because Naruto’s general luck wasn’t great. However, he didn’t dare think that it couldn’t get any worse. If today had taught him anything it was that life was perfectly fine with handing him a shovel and ordering him to keep digging…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jonquil - Jonquil flowers can be used to say "Love me". The flowers are also used to symbolyize desire, desire for affection returned, sorrow, affection returned, and sympathy
> 
> tamagoyaki: When we get right down to it this dish is basically a rolled egg or rolled omelette. As far as I can tell from all of the recpies that I have seen you are free to add what you like to the dish as you are cooking it. So ham, cheese, veggies, or whatever else you can think of to toss into an egg dish seems to be fair game. 
> 
> On another note you guys ever have banana boats? If not you are really missing out they are really great.


	10. Red Anemone

_‘The picture here is all wrong.’_

That was the only thing Kakashi could think of as he stared at the blond who was sleeping in front of him. He looked so peaceful lying there in the grass surrounded by yellow blossoms that were just as bright as the boy’s golden hair. It honestly looked like he had only drifted off to sleep on a bed of yellow flowers on a warm spring day. At that moment Naruto was the perfect picture of calm serenity. It was almost easy to forget how only a few seconds ago Naruto had been choking on those sunny yellow flowers. The key word there being ‘almost’. The grim faced Guy and the worried looking Lee made it hard to forget what had happened. Not helping matters was the last thing Naruto said before he fell asleep. 

_Just when I think I hit rock bottom someone throws me a shovel._

Kakashi could not help but inwardly flinch upon thinking of that line. He knew exactly what Naruto was referencing when he said that line. There was a bit of surprise that Naruto apparently knew the Icha Icha Tactics book enough to make such a reference, but that was easily ignored in favor of the cold chill that was washing over him. Out of all of the lines that Naruto could have said he chose to quote a line from the grimiest part of the book. In the book the character that had spoken the line had been on a downward spiral. Bad things just kept happening to her, and just when she thought she had reached her lowest point things got even worse. After uttering the line about a shovel the woman was in a really dark place both mentally and emotionally for a long time. Having Naruto say that line made it feel like Naruto was going to be going down a similar downward spiral that the character from the book had, and Kakashi could say without a hint of hesitation that the thought of Naruto getting into such a dark place scared him. 

“Kakashi.”

Without even thinking Kakashi pulled Naruto to him so that he was practically cradling the boy against his chest. He wearily glanced up at Guy and grimaced at the serious knowing look that the man was giving him.

“Young Naruto’s condition is a lot worse than I was expecting,” The man said.

“That is putting it lightly,” Kakashi grumbled. 

Ignoring Guy for the moment Kakashi shifted Naruto so that he could free up on of his hands to perform a summoning jutsu. The second the summoning was complete Pakkun was sitting in front of him ready to go.

“Boss,” The pug said only to fall silent when he saw Naruto. 

It was probably a rather sad sight. Kakashi was clinging so tightly to Naruto one would think Kakashi was afraid that someone would take the blond from him. Kakashi was sure that he looked rather devastated while he clung to Naruto with all of his strength. Meanwhile Naruto was like a limp doll in his arms. It was a bit unsettling to see the usually energetic boy look so lifeless and still. While looking at his face Kakashi noticed that Naruto didn't even look relaxed. Right now Naruto just looked tired like he had ran a marathon only to collapse from exhaustion. If it wasn't for the barely noticeable movement caused from his breathing one would almost think Naruto was dead. The fact that they were surrounded by sunny yellow flowers probably just added to the strange scene. They really didn't fit in with Kakashi's broken look or Naruto's unnatural stillness.

Pakkun took in sight for a few seconds before he asked “Did he have an attack?” 

“Yes,” The silver haired man said. “I want you to find Sakura and ask her to come to my house. I want her to run a quick check on him to make sure nothing has changed with him.”

“Got it,” The pug responded before he raced away.

“Shouldn’t we take him to a hospital?” Guy asked once the dog was gone.

“There is no point in doing so,” Kakashi said as he picked one of the flowers up and pocketed it to give to Ino later to identify. “The hospital can’t help him. Besides anything they can do Sakura can do.” 

Kakashi quickly stood up and adjusted his grip on Naruto so that he was carrying the blond bridal style. 

“Was it my fault?” Lee suddenly blurted out. 

Kakashi glanced over at Lee to see that he wasn’t really looking at Kakashi. He was staring at Naruto with a look of guilt on his face.

“Why would you ask that?” The gray haired ninja asked.

“Naruto told me all about his problem, and I asked him who he loved,” Lee quickly explained. “He just froze after I asked that question, and then he started coughing up flowers! Did my asking that question aggravate his condition?”

Kakashi honestly didn’t know how to answer that question. His first mental response to that was _‘of course not’_ , but the more he thought about it the more he started to wonder if it actually was possible. Apparently this whole curse may be connected to the feeling of love. Could thinking of a crush help to trigger an attack? Did thoughts of being rejected by his love make an attack worse? At this point when dealing with a curse that had to do with love it was definitely possible. 

If this curse truly was connected to love then it only made sense that any dark thoughts that Naruto had about the person he loved could trigger an attack. The more that Kakashi thought about it the more he realized that the curse was almost tailor made for Naruto. The blond was so desperate for affection and love figures out that he is in love with someone only to be tortured and hurt by the very thing he had longed for. Kakashi sighed as he looked down at the unresponsive blond in his arms. 

All too aware that he was leaving Lee hanging Kakashi eventually settled on saying “I really don’t know.” 

A quick glance at Lee showed that this answer didn’t really seem to help with Lee’s guilt much. Kakashi felt a bit bad about it, but while it would have been easy to lie about it Kakashi wasn’t going to lie to a friend like that. Kakashi let out a soft sigh as he looked at the sad green clad ninja.

“Lee can you do me a favor?” 

Lee perked up a bit upon hearing that.

“It’s almost lunch time so could you get me and Naruto some ramen from Ichiraku Ramen and bring it back to my apartment? I’m sure some ramen will make Naruto feel a lot better once he wakes up.” 

Guy chose that moment to jump into the conversation. 

“That is an excellent idea! Lee, why don’t you get a bowl of ramen for me and you as well? We can join Kakashi and Naruto for lunch!” Guy said as he pulled out a wad of money and pushed it into Lee’s hands. 

“That is a wonderful idea Guy-Sensei! I promise that I will be at Kakashi’s apartment with all the ramen that Naruto can eat in record time! If I don’t make it back to Kakashi’s apartment within twenty minutes I will climb the Hokage mountain with one hand tied behind my back!” 

Lee then shot off before Kakashi could make any protests.

When Guy’s favorite student was out of sight Kakashi let out a soft sigh and looked over at Guy as he said “Inviting yourself to my house for lunch just like that are you?”

Kakashi didn’t get an enthusiastic answer to that. All of Guy’s usual energy and cheer vanished the second Lee was gone. Instead the man was giving Kakashi a serious look that made it clear that Guy wasn’t going to be putting on his usual theatrics for a while now. 

“We need to talk Kakashi.” 

The masked man wasn’t happy to hear that although he knew better then to think there was any way to avoid this talk. Guy would talk to Kakashi even if he had to chase him all over town to do it.

“Fine,” Kakashi said. “But only after I get Naruto into bed.”

“Of course,” Guy said as he gestured for Kakashi to start leading him to his apartment.

They reached Kakashi’s apartment in record time. Upon entering his home Kakashi directed Guy toward his kitchen while he went to Naruto’s room. He tucked the Naruto in and brushed some of the boy’s blond locks away from his eyes. Upon feeling the touch Naruto let out a small sigh of content as almost seemed to lean into Kakashi’s touch. Kakashi could not help but smile at that, but the smile faded when he remembered the talk that he was going to have to have with Guy. He already knew what Guy was going to say, and he wasn’t looking forward to it. With a sigh Kakashi reluctantly left Naruto’s side and went to the kitchen. Upon reaching the kitchen he saw that Guy was already seated at his table. His grim look was still there although Kakashi did his best to ignore it.

“Tea?” Kakashi asked as he walked past the table and grabbed his kettle.

Even if Guy didn’t want a cup Kakashi was going to make some. Keeping himself busy as he talked was probably the only way he was going to get through this conversation without fleeing the room. “Green tea if you have it,” Guy said. Kakashi nodded as he opened up a cupboard and pulled out the box of green tea and cups. 

As he got everything ready he said “Well, say what you want to say.” 

“What exactly is wrong with Naruto?”

Kakashi let out a soft sigh, but he started to share everything he knew. He talked about the flowers, when the flower problem started, and about the folktale that seemed to be connected to Naruto’s flower curse. Heck, he even talked about each flower that Naruto had coughed up and how each flower had a special meaning connected to them. By the time Kakashi finally stopped talking the tea was ready. Kakashi placed the tea down onto the table, and then slipped into the seat that was across from Guy. He didn’t dare look up at Guy. He just stared down at the tea in his own cup.

“What are you going to do?”

“What can I do other then watch over Naruto and be there for him when he needs me?” Kakashi said. 

“You know that wasn’t what I was asking about." 

Kakashi scowled down at his cup of tea upon hearing that. Guy was Kakashi’s oldest friend. He had been there from day one, and no matter how much Kakashi had tried to push him away or ignore him Guy stubbornly stayed by his side. Out of everyone in the village who was still alive Guy knew him best. He knew his history, his habits, and his personality. That fact was both a curse and a blessing. Guy knew how to get his mind off of depressing subject with ridicules challenges. He knew how to give Kakashi a challenge during a spar. 

However, he also knew how to read Kakashi better than most people and Kakashi really hated that fact sometimes. For all of his goofy theatrics and high energy Guy had a natural talent for reading in between the lines. Sometimes he was just a bit too good at seeing underneath the underneath and he was able to see what Kakashi wanted to keep hidden away. As such the man knew about Kakashi’s feelings for Naruto. He was able to hear all of Kakashi’s warm words about the boy in private, he saw how protective Kakashi could get of the boy, and he listened when Kakashi would praise the boy to the high heavens when they were alone. He was able to take all of those moments and put them together to figure that Kakashi loved Naruto dearly. Kakashi hadn’t even meant for Guy to find out about his crush, but sometimes Kakashi seriously underestimated how well Guy could read him. Right now Kakashi really hated just how easily Guy could read in between the lines.

“Do you expect me to just confess to him?” Kakashi hissed out. “I can’t do that Guy.” 

“Why not?”

Such a simple question. Only two little words. Yet, those two words only enraged Kakashi.

“Would you like me to make you a list?” He asked.

“If you did I would just make my own list of why half your reasons are ridicules,” Guy countered.

Kakashi really felt like strangling Guy right now. “I’m his sensei,”

“You haven’t been his sensei for years now,” Guy said calmly.

“He was my sensei’s son!” Kakashi hissed all while putting extra emphasis on the words ‘my sensei’.

“So? I didn’t know Minato-sama nearly as much as you did, but I interacted with him just enough to know that he was a kind man who cared a lot about you. I think the only thing he would care about is your happiness and Naruto’s happiness.” 

Much as Kakashi wanted to argue against that he knew deep down Guy was right. Minato would be a little surprised, but ultimately as long as they were both happy he probably wouldn’t have cared. Hell, knowing Minato he would probably be happy that his kid was with someone that he knew and trusted. 

“The age gap is-“ Kakashi started to say only to be cut off by Guy. 

“My father was nine years older than my mother. While a bit of a large gap they had loved each other deeply and were happy together. My mother’s death due to complications from my birth was the only reason she was ripped away from my father’s side. If they could be happy even with such a large age gap then you and Naruto can be too.” 

Kakashi didn’t know how to respond to that. Truthfully, the age gap between Guy’s father and mother wasn’t exactly uncommon among ninjas. The life of a ninja was dangerous and filled with uncertainty. Plenty of people lived long enough to reach retirement age. However, a large number of ninjas tended to lose their lives with Jōnin and ANBU being the ones with the highest mortality rate. During times of war it is very common to have a graduating class get killed with only two or three people from the class surviving long enough to retire. As such when it came to love as far as most ninjas were concerned as long as both people were consenting adults who truly loved each other and no one was being hurt by the relationship then who cared? Life was way too short to deny love. 

Guy had been doing pretty well at knocking down all of Kakashi’s excuses without any difficulty, but none of it mattered. Guy could knock down all of Kakashi’s excuses all day long if he wanted. It wouldn’t change the fact that Naruto was never going to love him.

“Naruto would never love me.”

“You don’t know that,” The green clad ninja said. 

“Of course I know he won’t love me!” Kakashi snapped as he looked up from his cup to glare at Guy.

Guy didn’t really react to Kakashi outburst. He just sat there and waited patiently for Kakashi to explain. 

“When Naruto came back from his training trip I made a joke about liking him when we were training and he flipped. Acted like the very idea of me liking him in such a way horrified him. He even told me to stop saying such weird things. Then when all of his friends hinted and joked about me and him possibly being in a romantic relationship he panicked. Just hearing the idea of being in a romantic relationship with me made him run for the hills. I had to chase him down and reassure him over and over again that there was no truth to their words and that they were just joking to calm him down.” Kakashi shot Guy a hard look as he asked “Tell me Guy after getting those two rather strong negative reactions do you honestly think I have a good chance of him returning my feelings?”

Unlike all of Kakashi’s other reasons Guy didn’t have a quick answer for this one. Guy’s lack of a quick answer was the only answer that Kakashi needed.

“Kakashi I-“ Guy started to say, but Kakashi was quick to cut him off. 

“Even if I did confess right here and now it wouldn’t do any good. Worst case scenario Naruto would be disgusted and would never want to see me again. Best case scenario he will let me down gently all while feeling guilty for not being able to return my feelings. With his flower problem and his problems figuring out what to do about the person he is actually in love with the very last thing Naruto needs right now is to feel bad that he doesn’t feel the same way as me, or have him stressed out over the idea that I love him way more then I should.” 

The sound of knocking on his front door and the muffled voices of Sakura and Pakkun calling Kakashi’s name caused the man to fall silent for a moment. 

He dropped his voice down to a whisper as he said “There is no point in me confessing so just let it go. Promise me you won’t mention this to anyone.” 

“I-“ 

“Promise me!”

“Alright,” Guy said with a sigh. “I understand your reasons for keeping quiet for now Kakashi, but I think you are too quick to give up on love.”

“Your opinion on it has been acknowledged, and I hate to tell you this but it doesn't matter what you think about it. Naruto has already made it very clear that he could never return my feelings. There is no point fighting for something that I will never get.” 

If Guy had anything to say to that Kakashi didn’t stick around long enough to hear it. He marched out of the room and started to make his way toward the front door before Guy could even think of saying anything. As Kakashi walked he was quick to shove all of his thoughts about his feelings for Naruto to the back of his mind. There was no use on dwelling on it. Naruto would never return his feelings, but Kakashi was sure that his feelings would never truly fade either. Kakashi would just have to live with the fact that he would probably go to his grave never confessing his love to the person he loved most… 

\-----------------------------------------------------------------

“I think he is waking up.”

The sound of Sakura’s soft voice was the very first thing that Naruto heard when he woke up. He cracked his eyes open only to see that Sakura was looking down at him.

“Sakura?” Naruto rasped out. 

“Sai is here too,” She said. 

Naruto slowly sat up only to see Sai leaning up against the wall near his bed. Sai gave Naruto a crocked smile probably in some attempt to give Naruto a bit of comfort.

“Well, I already scanned you and did what I could while you were passed out. I didn’t find anything wrong. How do you feel?” 

“Tired,” Naruto answered. 

“Doesn’t surprise me,” Sakura said with a soft sigh.

“Kakashi explained what happened. Sakura’s theory is that the more flowers you cough up the more energy is drained from you,” Sai explained. 

_‘Makes sense,’_ Naruto thought. 

“He also told us about you were talking about with Lee when your coughing fit happened.” Sai said. 

“Oh…” Naruto said softly.

Sakura sighed before she sat down on the bed next to Naruto. Sai stood by the bed awkwardly for a few seconds clearly unsure if he should join them on the bed or not. The decision was made for him when Naruto and Sakura reached out and pulled him onto the bed. Once Sai was sitting on the bed across from them the talk really began. 

“So you know everything involving the myth?” Sakura asked.

“Yeah, Baa-chan explained it all. Even told me that I should think about who I am truly in love with.” 

Sakura was silent for a moment before she bluntly asked “It isn’t me is it?”

Naruto probably would have been more surprised to hear the question if it wasn’t for the fact that Kakashi had already asked that question. Right now Naruto was just happy that she didn’t beat around the bush and just got right to the point.

“Sorry, but that ship sailed a long time ago. I’m afraid you missed your chance to be the owner of my heart.” 

A small smile appeared on Sakura’s face as she playfully shoved Naruto. 

“Oh, I’m completely heartbroken.” She said that in a tone that made it seem like she was actually serious when she said that, but her smile made it clear that she was joking.

Naruto blew her a kiss as he said “Oh, don’t worry Sakura you will always be my number one girl.”

Sakura pretended to catch the kiss and hold it close to her heart as she said “I guess as long as I can be your number one girl I’ll find some way to survive.”

“Are you both…?” Sai started to ask only to trail off.

“We are joking,” Sakura and Naruto said at the same time.

“Oh,” Sai said slowly. “Do friends always joke like that?”

“Some do,’ Sakura said. “Some friends tease each other like that often. Some don’t. It depends on the friend group and how they typically interact with each other.”

Sai looked thoughtful upon hearing that, and Naruto was sure that if he had a notebook on him he would be taking notes. 

Ignoring Sai and his never ending quest to figure out how to interact with other humans for the moment Sakura looked over at Naruto and asked “Do you know who you are in love with.” 

The light joking feeling that had fallen over them for a brief moment vanished the second Sakura asked that question. Sai abandoned his thoughts about how people interact to stare at Naruto while Sakura wasn’t looking at Naruto at all. Her gaze was glued to her lap. Naruto sighed as he stared down at his hands.

“I know who I am in love with.”

“Did you figure it out on the day that you started coughing up flowers?” She asked. Naruto hesitated for a moment on answering that, but ultimately he did end up giving an answer.

“Yes.” 

Naruto heard her make a small sound surprise although she didn’t say anything. It was like she wasn't sure what to say in response to that. 

Sai of course had no such problem. “So it is pretty much confirmed that falling in love caused your curse to activate.” 

That was said as a statement rather than a question. 

“Pretty much,” Naruto said as he shrugged. 

“You never coughed up flowers when you thought you were in love with me,” Sakura said softly. 

“I don’t think I was truly in love with you. I was just in love with the idea of love more than anything. I thought you were the cutest girl in class, and you were smart which made you even better to me so why not try to win the heart of who I thought was the best girl in class. I had a crush on you, but it was never a really strong feeling.”

“Well, thanks for the ego boost,” Sakura said with just a small hint of humor in her voice. “Nice to know you always thought so highly of me.”

“Told you that you were my number one girl,” Naruto weekly joked. 

“So only feelings of deep love could trigger the curse?” Sai asked.

“Either that or Naruto didn’t end up with a curse until much later in his life after his small crush on me went away,” Sakura muttered. "It would really help us if we knew exactly when you got this curse. If we knew when and where you got the curse then maybe we could narrow things down and figure out who placed the curse on your, or maybe even why. Maybe it has something to do with a mission you took on, or maybe it is tied to a place that you went to." 

A thoughtful look appeared on her face as she glanced over at Naruto. 

“When do you think your crush on me went away?”

“Sometime during my trip with the Pervy Sage.” 

“You think someone could have cursed you during your trip?” Sakura asked. 

“I don’t think so?” Naruto said with a bit of uncertainty. 

“You don’t think so?” Sai repeated.

“I don’t remember anyone making any ominous comments about me having flower troubles in the future nor do I remember seeing any strange jutsu signs at me.”

“Does someone actually have to be in the same room as you to place a curse on you?” Sakura asked.

“I have no idea,” Naruto muttered.

Sai tilted his head slightly to the side as he asked “Isn’t Jiraiya getting into contact with his contacts to try and gather information on Naruto’s condition?”

“Yeah?” Sakura said slowly. 

“Well, then I imagine he will probably be collecting any into that he can on curses, so he will probably end up learning a lot about them soon. We could probably ask him about it.” Sai then smiled that little strange smile of his that always looked so fake.

Sad thing was Naruto was sure that he was actually generally trying to smile. 

“He probably will,” Sakura said. “Although, I don’t want to distract him from his work to figure out how to help Naruto just to ask questions about how curses work.”

“Honestly, I don’t really care about how curses work. I just want Jiraiya to find a cure for it so I don’t ever have to think about curse jutsu ever again.” 

Sakura let out a small hum of agreement while Sai just nodded in understanding. Neither of his friends could blame him for wanting to just be cured and never wanting to even think of curse jutsus ever again. 

“We are getting a bit off subject here,” Sakura said. 

She stared right into Naruto’s eyes as she said “You know who you are in love with, so I have to ask why haven’t you confessed yet? You don’t usually suffer in silence.”

“I want to,” Naruto muttered. 

He really did want to. He wanted nothing more than to just grab Kakashi by the shoulders and confess his love. Yet, he couldn’t.

“What’s stopping you?” Sakura asked.

“I’m terrified that they will reject me,” Naruto confessed. “If they reject me I think I would fall apart.” 

Sakura was giving him a sad look now while Sai was just staring at him with an emotionless look on his face. They didn’t say anything although they didn’t really have to. The dam had been opened and Naruto couldn’t stop talking. 

“When I first met them the very first thing they said to me was that they hated me.” 

That was true. To be fair to Kakashi what he said was in response to Naruto’s stupid prank with the chalkboard eraser. Naruto was pretty sure Kakashi hadn’t been serious when he said those words, and it hadn’t been directed solely at Naruto. Still, they hadn’t been gentle words by any stretch of the imagination. 

_Based on my first impression, I’d have to say… I hate you._

Just thinking about it right now made Naruto flinch. Kakashi had been mostly joking the first time he said it, but Naruto could not shake the feeling that the ‘hate you’ bit could be said with complete seriousness if Naruto’s confession went wrong. If he confessed would Kakashi be disgusted at the fact that Naruto loved him in such a way? Would he harshly reject him and say that he never wanted to see Naruto again? Would he say that he hated him?

“We get along wonderfully now, but if I they say that they hate me for loving them in such a way? What if they decided that they don’t want anything to do with me anymore?”

“Naruto if this person is special enough to earn your love then I know that there is no way that they would be cruel enough to say that they hate you just for confessing your feelings,” Sakura said gently. 

She was probably right. For all of Kakashi’s sometimes standoffish behavior he was a kind person deep down. Kakashi would probably never tell Naruto he hated him. Yet, Naruto could not shake away his fear. He was still afraid that if he said anything about his love it would ruin everything. Kakashi would withdraw from him, and the few loving gestures that Naruto got from Kakashi would go away. 

There would be no more listening to Kakashi’s stories. 

There would be no more training sessions done for fun together. 

There would no longer be able to talk and joke easily with each other.

There would no longer be happy clam walks home together. 

It would all be gone. 

Naruto didn’t want to lose the closeness that he had with Kakashi. He didn’t want Kakashi to close himself off from Naruto just because Naruto confessed when he shouldn’t have. He couldn’t lose his friendship with Kakashi. He just couldn’t.

“I can’t lose them,” Naruto said while trying his very best to make Sakura understand. “Maybe they wouldn’t break our friendship, but they might withdraw from me and barely have anything to do to me because they feel bad or it feels too awkward for them. I don’t want to lose the relationship that we have.”

Naruto paused for a moment before he let out a soft sigh. Underneath all of that there was one big fear that clung tightly to Naruto’s heart. It was almost as strong as his fear of rejection. 

“If my condition is as serious as the one from that story is how do you think the person that I am in love with will feel when they know that my condition is caused by my crush on them? How do you think they will feel if they find out that I will die just because they can’t return my love? The guilt would eat them alive!” 

Naruto knew he was right about that. Knowing Kakashi the man would feel insanely guilty that his inability to love Naruto could very well cause his death. Sometimes it felt like the man clung to his guilt and sadness like his life depended on it. It was a known fact in Team 7 that Kakashi would hang out at the Memorial Stone for hours on end just staring at the cold stone without saying a word. While everyone on the Team knew about it no one commented on it. Hell, even Sai never commented on it and he didn’t exactly have a filter.

The Memorial Stone and the names of the people that Kakashi had loved and lost were touchy subjects that no one really knew how to approach. Kakashi had been telling cheery stories of his old team to Naruto for a few years now, and even to this day the man had yet to tell him how they died or even what their real names were. There deaths still affected him badly to the point of just speaking their names seemed to bring up bad memories. Honestly, it was just all too easy to see Kakashi mourn over Naruto just as badly as he mourned over his old team. Naruto didn’t want to add to the man’s guilt. It wasn’t Kakashi’s fault if he didn’t love him, and he shouldn’t feel guilty about that. Naruto didn’t want to add to his grief.

Sakura apparently agreed that Kakashi should not feel guilty because she said “They should not feel guilty for not being able to return your love. No one should feel guilty for that.” 

“I don’t think that fact would stop them from feeling guilty anyway,” Naruto muttered. 

Sakura sighed as she asked “Do you even know for sure if they don’t love you?”

Naruto slowly shook his head. He didn’t know, but to be fair he knew nothing about Kakashi’s love life. 

“Then isn't it a bit early to throw in the towel?” Sakura asked. 

“All my books say you shouldn’t give up so easily when it comes to love,” Sai commented. 

There was something both funny and a bit aggravating that Sai of all people was giving him love advice.

Of course any humor and aggravation that he felt over that were quickly forgotten when he heard Sakura ask “Just who are you in love with?”

Naruto froze upon hearing that. He didn’t know how to answer that. He didn’t know if he _could_ answer that. 

“I..”

_Say it._

“I’m…” 

_Just say it!_

“I’m in love with…”

_He couldn’t do it..._

He couldn’t even say who he was in love with to his closest friends. His whole body trembled and he could almost feel the familiar feeling of petals in his throat. The sudden feeling of hands slamming down onto his shoulders caused him to open his eyes only to see Sakura staring at him with a look of worry. 

“Stop,” She pleaded with him. “Just stop.” 

Naruto’s trembling slowly came to a stop and Sakura let out a soft sigh as he allowed her hand to fall away from Naruto’s shoulder. 

“He had an attack when Lee asked the same question didn’t he?” Sai questioned. 

“Yeah,” Sakura confirmed. “I’m honestly starting to wonder if his curse prevents him from talking about his love too much.”

Naruto blinked a few times in surprise upon hearing that, and asked “Is that possible?” 

“Would it be strange if it is?” Sakura asked. “Your curse appears to be connected to love. Thinking of confessing your love and being rejected aggravates you and that in turn probably aggravates your condition and causes your curse to activate. Right before you start coughing up flowers your whole body starts trembling. I think if I left you alone in your thought for a few seconds longer you would have started coughing up flowers.”

“Like what? Does this mean I can’t talk about my crush at all?” Naruto asked.

“I think you can, but it looks like the more worked up you get about the subject the more your condition is aggravated.” Sakura sighed as she ran a hand through her pink hair. “I honestly don’t know. I can’t exactly run any normal tests to get a definitive answer. I’m just going off what I seem to notice, so I could be wrong.” 

She let out another sigh as she flopped down so that she was lying on the bed.

She looked over at Naruto and gave him a serious look as she said “Once we get some more info on curses maybe we will find a cure so you won’t have to worry about it, but if it turns out that having your love returned is the only way to be cured I want you to promise me something.”

“What is that?” 

“Don’t just assume that your love can’t be returned. Do whatever research you can to see if that is actually true. You never know it might turn out that your love is returned. I don’t want you to just die or stay sick for the rest of your life because you assumed the worst.”

“I’ll try,” Naruto said. 

Sakura smiled a little as she said “If you can’t say who you love out right drop as many hints as you can to me. If I got to turn this village upside down to find you some answers too.”

“I’ll help as well,” Sai said. “I don’t know much about love, but I can help gather information at the very least.”

There was a little spark of joy that his friends cared so much, but that faded quick when Sakura’s smile disappeared.

“I’m not kidding Naruto. If it comes down to a life or death situation I will do whatever it takes to figure out who you are in love with, and I will help you confess. I won’t let you die from heartache without a fight because you don’t want anyone to feel guilty, or because of some ill-conceived notion that you don’t deserve love. That is my promise to you.” 

Naruto truly didn’t know how to respond to that. Not many people made promises to him. Heck, he could count on one hand how many people had made promises to him. For someone who was always making promises to everyone else and fulfilling those promises too it was rather touching for someone else to make a promise this time. He had to admit that there was a part of him that wanted to have someone else deal with all of this for a change. Let them stress about how to approach this whole love thing and not have it blow up in their faces. However, stronger then all of that there was a bit of fear. If he truly was in such dire straits there was no doubt in his mind that Kakashi would feel a great amount of guilt for not returning his feelings. 

_‘Freaking out a bit too quickly aren’t you?’_ He thought to himself. _‘You are coughing up flowers, but you aren’t on your death bed. Other than some exhaustion that you get after a really bad attack you don’t have any issues. You aren’t dying. You have time to figure out how Kakashi feels about you.’_

Of course right after he thought that negative part of himself just had to chime in. 

_**'And how long will that last? Do you really think it won’t get worse with time? Do you really think you have enough time to figure out if your beloved loves you back?'** _

_‘Shut up!’_ Naruto hissed in his head. 

He really didn’t want to think of any of those questions especially not when other people were around. Knowing his luck the second he started to think of those questions Sakura would pick up his sad mood and start a line of questioning that Naruto wasn’t ready to answer. The sound of the door opening snapped Naruto out of his thoughts. The three ninjas on the bed quickly glanced over at the door only to see Kakashi standing there. Upon seeing that Naruto was awake and sitting up Kakashi seemed to relax a bit.

“Good. You're awake.” He glanced over at Sakura. “How is he?”

“I ran a scan and haven’t found anything strange. Other than some exhaustion he seems to be fine. Just have him take it easy, don’t go out today, and make sure he gets a full night of sleep tonight.” Sakura paused for a moment and then quickly added. “Also, if you get into the subject of who he has a crush on and he starts trembling drop the subject. I think the trembling of his whole body is a sign that a bad attack is coming.” 

The relaxed look that Kakashi was wearing was quickly replaced with a grim look upon hearing that. 

Not wanting Kakashi to linger on that comment for too long Naruto quickly asked “Did you come in here to check on us?”

“Oh,” Kakashi said. “ I wanted to see if you were up yet, and what Sakura had to say about you. If you were up I wanted to let you know that lunch is here. Lee just got back from Ichiraku with ramen for us. It seems Guy and Lee will be joining us for lunch.” 

He looked at Sai and Sakura as he said “Lee was a bit too enthusiastic about getting ramen for lunch and brought a bowl of every single type of ramen that Ichiraku has. Apparently since he didn't know what we wanted he just got one of everything to be safe. There is more then enough to share with Sai and Sakura if they want to join us.”

“I would like to join,” Sai said.

“I would love to join you for lunch,” Sakura said. “We could even eat some of the red bean soup that me and Sai brought over."

Naruto perked up a bit upon seeing that. “Red bean soup?”

“Yeah, Sai and I were bringing over the red bean soup that Kakashi asked me to hold onto when Pakkun found us,” Sakura said as she sat up and slid off of the bed. 

Two of Naruto’s favorite foods all at once. It was enough to make Naruto smile just a little bit although if the curious look on Sai’s face was anything to go by his lack of a strong reaction was obviously noticed. 

Naruto tried his best to make his smile a bit brighter as he said with as much enthusiasm as he could “Well, what are we waiting for! There is ramen to eat!” 

He got off of the bed and tried to take a step forward only to feel himself start to collapse. Luckily, Sai had gotten off of the bed and grabbed him before he hit the floor. 

“Naruto, you need to be careful!” Sakura scolded. “From what I understand you haven’t even gotten a full hour of rest yet. You are still a little week from your last flower attack.”

“Sorry,” Naruto said. “Thanks for the catch Sai.”

“No problem,” Sai said. “Come on I’ll help you to the kitchen.”

As Sai led Naruto to the kitchen the blond tried his best to look as cheerful as he could so he wouldn’t worry anyone, but as they walked his troubled thoughts would not leave him. 

_**Do you really think you have enough time to figure out if your beloved loves you back?** _

Deep down some dark part of Naruto was starting to wonder if he would end up going to his grave never knowing if Kakashi could ever love him back…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Red Anemone- Red Anemone can be used to mean ill omens, fading hope, feelings of being forsaken or forsaken love, bad luck, and death of a loved one. In general red (and pink) anemone symbolize mostly bad things. 
> 
> On a ever so slightly lighter note they can mean anticipation for something in the future.


	11. Daisy

For as serious and grim as his talk with Sakura and Sai had been lunch was surprisingly a cheerful affair. Guy was his typical energetic self. Lee had been a bit more subdued, but once Naruto assured him that he didn’t blame him for his last flower attack Lee went to being just as energetic as his teacher was. Guy was already trying to set the date for his next challenge with Kakashi. The list of challenges ranged from a race around the village to a sushi eating contest. As they talked Lee was cheerily tossing in possible challenge ideas into the ring while Guy was enthusiastically accepting every suggestion that Lee gave. Kakashi was less enthusiastic about the sillier suggestions although he was strangely willing to go for the sushi eating contest to the point that he was actually somewhat fighting for that one to happen. Sakura would chime in every once in a while to shoot down any ideas that would just have the end result of making Tsunade mad.

Meanwhile Sai was happy to just sit in the background and listen to it all with that strange smile of his on his face. Naruto was pretty much doing the same as Sai. He was just sitting back and watching the chaos that usually accompanied Guy’s random challenges all while eating delicious ramen. It was really nice. Naruto loved the fact that he was able to have these happy moments with loved ones. Times like this were something that the child him could only dream of, so it was fantastic to know that he finally had something that he had always longed for.

Yet, for as happy as the moment was Naruto couldn’t help but feel that the cheerful moment was a fragile one. Naruto may not have been the sharpest kunai in the weapon pouch, but he could be observant when he wanted to be. He wasn’t missing the strange sad looks that Guy would give Kakashi when Kakashi wasn’t looking at him. He also didn’t miss the fact that Guy was giving him that strange sad look on occasion too. Why he and Kakashi were getting that look Naruto didn’t know, but it made Naruto wonder just what the hell Guy and Kakashi had been talking about when they were alone. 

Meanwhile, Sakura was shooting him the occasional look that Naruto could only describe as the concerned medic look. Naruto couldn’t really blame her for giving him that look. While he didn’t feel tired per say he still felt drained of his energy. The fact that he had to have Sai help him to the kitchen table showed that he hadn’t recovered his strength yet. It was strange for Naruto to still be sort of out of it after resting for an hour or so. It was noticeable enough that even Sai would give him an occasional look that actually looked generally concerned. While Naruto was happy that his friend was getting a lot better at actually expressing emotions now he wasn’t too happy that the first look he seemed to have mastered was a look of worry. 

His condition was casting a shadow over what should be a happy lunch with his friends. It was hard to forget his problems for the moment and just enjoy being with friends when all of his friends kept looking at him like they expected him to keel over at any moment. Eventually lunch ended and his friends slowly trickled out of the apartment. Kakashi had been able to talk Guy into the sushi eating contest, and after making plans to have the contest next weekend. With the plans made Guy and Lee shot out the door yelling about youth, training, and sushi. Sakura and Sai stayed for a bit longer, but they made sure not to overstay their welcome. They stayed just long enough for Naruto to mention his and Kakashi’s plan to have a banana boat party once Yamato was back in the village.

When Sakura heard that she had laughed and asked “Is that going to become a thing with Team 7? You can’t be a true member of the team unless you eat at least one banana boat with everyone?”

“We were planning on making it a full blown initiation ritual from now on,” Kakashi said.

“Maybe we can even make t-shirts to celebrate the occasion,” Naruto joked. “Orange shirts that say ‘Team 7 First official banana boat initiation party’ along with the date of the party written on them.”

Sakura had rolled her eyes upon hearing that bit, but she had a smirk on her face as she said “Of course you would demand that the shirts be orange.”

“Orange is a great color!” Naruto argued as he smirked at Sakura. “In fact it should be our team color.” 

Sakura rolled her eyes as she said “Yeah, I’m not agreeing to that until we put it to a vote.” 

As they talked Sai stood by the sidelines just listening, but as the conversation about the party went on Sai just started to look more and more confused. 

Eventually the dark eyed man slowly asked “W-what is a banana boat?”

Sakura just slung her arm around Sai’s shoulder and said “Don’t worry Sai I’ll explain it on our way to the Hokage Tower. I need to give Tsunade an update on our favorite knucklehead patient.”

She glanced over at Kakashi and said “I’m fine with having the party. Let me know when we are having it.”

Kakashi nodded and then glanced over at Sai. 

“How about you Sai?” The gray haired man asked. “Would you like to come? You don’t have to force yourself to attend if you aren’t interested.” 

“I’ll come?” Sai said all while sounding like he still wasn’t exactly sure on just what he was signing himself up for.

“Don’t worry Sai you will have fun,” Sakura assured the man as they left the house. 

Once they were gone the only ones left where Kakashi and Naruto. Before they had left Sakura and Sai had helped move Naruto to the couch in Kakashi’s living room. Naruto was a bit steadier on his feet, but he was still a little shaky. “What now?” Naruto asked as he stared at Kakashi. 

The gray haired man rubbed the back of his hair as he said “Maa, you should honestly get some more rest but I doubt you feel tired enough to do so after just waking up.”

“You got that right,” Naruto said.

He really didn’t feel sleepy at all. Kakashi hummed a little in thought as he looked around his living room as if trying to find something that could keep Naruto busy. Eventually his eyes landed on his TV. 

“We could watch that Princess Gale movie that your brought along.” 

Naruto perked up a bit at that suggestion. After everything that happened he had almost forgot that he brought that movie with him to Kakashi's house. He was actually looking forward to seeing how Kakashi would react to the movie. 

“I’ll go get it,” Naruto said as he started to get up. 

Kakashi was quick to gently push Naruto back into his seat.

“Considering you are still a bit unsteady on your feet it might be better if I go get it,” Kakashi said gently.

“Oh,” Naruto said. “Okay. The movie is still in my backpack.” 

“Right,” Kakashi said as he started to leave. “I’ll be right back.” 

Once Kakashi left Naruto felt a small smile slowly spread on his face. There was a twinge of disappointment at the fact that he still hadn’t completely recovered from his last flower attack, but that feeling was quickly washed away at Naruto’s excitement at watching a movie with Kakashi. It wasn’t anything really special. They would just be watching a movie that Naruto had already watched a thousand times before. However, it would be Kakashi’s first time seeing it and the blond was rather excited to see Kakashi’s reaction to it. He was also just happy to be able do something so normal and relaxed with Kakashi. It may not have been exciting, but Naruto was still happy to be able to spend time with Kakashi.

Kakashi returned after a few minutes with the movie in hand. He was quick to get the movie started, and once the movie started Kakashi flopped down onto the couch. Neither one of them said a word as the movie played. Naruto tried his best to pay attention to the movie, but he really couldn’t. He was way too focused on Kakashi. It was rather clear to Naruto that Kakashi was rather invested in the movie. He never said a word as the movie played, but his eyes were glued to the screen and he was leaning slightly forward in interest. It was sort of cute to see how interested Kakashi was getting.

 _‘We really need to sit down and watch the whole Princess Gale trilogy together one of these days,’_ Naruto thought. 

That thought dropped to the sidelines as Naruto glanced over at Kakashi. They were sitting so close together that their legs were pressed up against each other.

 _‘He’s so warm,'_ Naruto couldn’t help but think. 

Upon thinking that a wild idea quickly jumped into his head. He wanted to lean up against Kakashi. He wanted to lie his head against Kakashi shoulder and just enjoy the moment.

_‘Would he mind?’_ Naruto wondered. _‘Would he think I was weird if I did that?’_

Naruto didn’t know. Two parts of himself fought over what he should do. One half was very enthusiastic at the idea of snuggling up against Kakashi and was mentally yelling _‘Do it! Just do it!’_

The other part of him was worrying over the idea of making things seem weird. Eventually after about almost an hour of debating it his desire to lean up against Kakashi won the war. Naruto gathered up what courage he had and ever so slowly started to lean up against Kakashi’s side. Kakashi tensed up when Naruto did so, but just when Naruto was going to pull away and apologize if he made Kakashi uncomfortable he felt Kakashi relax. 

“Getting tired?” Kakashi asked.

Due to being pressed up against Kakashi it felt he could just feel the rumble of Kakashi’s voice. He loved the fact that he was able to almost feel every word that Kakashi said due to being pressed up against the man.

“A little bit,” Naruto said softly.

“Do you want me to stop the movie?” Kakashi asked.

“No,” Naruto said quickly. “I can stay awake for the whole movie.” 

“Alright,” Kakashi said. “But don’t push yourself if you get too tired. You are still recovering.”

“I won’t,” Naruto assured him.

Naruto waited for Kakashi to shift away from him or gently move him so that he was leaning up against the couch arm rather than him. However, that never happened. Instead he was surprised when he felt Kakashi slowly run his hand through his hair. It was such a soft gentle touch. He couldn’t help but sort of lean into the touch. It felt so nice to feel Kakashi rhythmically run his fingers through his hair in such a soothing manor. A soft happy sigh escaped from Naruto as he just enjoyed the moment. Right now is was so easy to just forget all of his worries and be happy that he could spend time with Kakashi like this. The looming worry of his flower problem was still there in the background, but it didn’t take up as much of his head space as it usually did. It was hard to focus on the negative when he was snuggled up against Kakashi like this.

It was hard to feel anything bad when he was snuggled up against Kakashi’s side like this. His happiness that Kakashi wasn’t pushing him away made it hard to focus on any negative feelings at the moment. He just wanted to enjoy the moment. He glanced up to look at Kakashi only to have Kakashi look down at him. Kakashi immediately gave him an eye smile and Naruto could not help but smile back. Naruto loved it when he saw Kakashi smile like that. It always made him happy to see Kakashi generally happy, and it made him even happier to know that Kakashi seemed so happy to be spending time with him.

 _‘I really do wonder what his actual smile looks like,_ ’ Naruto thought.

When he was younger he always thought that made Kakashi was hiding something major like fish lips or buckteeth or something equally ridicules like that. Heck, back when they were brand knew genin a common way for Team 7 to pass the time was by making theories on just what Kakashi looked like and the theories usually ended up being pretty ridicules. Heck, they got so into it that the ninken actually started joining in on the theorizing when they happened to be around. 

Naruto remembered Pakkun rambling on about it by saying “I bet he has a beauty mark under that mask of his. That or a birth mark.” 

Pakkun had actually been really adamant on there being a beauty mark under Kakashi’s mask now that Naruto thought about it. Of course now that he was thinking about it he realized that it had been a while since the ninken joined in on the theorizing. The last time he and Sakura had done any of that near the dogs the dogs had just looked smug all while not joining in on the conversation. Pakkun would just crackle in what Naruto thought sounded like glee every time they talked about the subject almost like he knew something that they didn’t. Naruto didn’t understand why the pug did that, but upon thinking about it now Naruto couldn’t help but wonder if the little pug knew what Kakashi looked like. 

_‘Bet he was laughing because he finally knows the big secret and we don’t,’_ Naruto thought.

Of course right when he thought that another thought entered his head. 

_‘I hope one day Kakashi will trust me enough to show me what he looks like.’_

There was a single dark thought that lingered behind that innocent dream. A negative thought that only screamed **_‘There is no way that will happen.’_**

Yet, for once Naruto was in a good enough mood to ignore that thought for the time being. Maybe Kakashi would never trust him enough to show Naruto what he hid behind his mask. It was a bit of a sad thought, but Naruto could live with it. For now, he would treasure these small personal moments that he had with Kakashi where it was just the two of them together. He would lock those moments up in his heart so that he would never forget them. Naruto sighed as he closed his eyes and just enjoyed the feeling of Kakashi’s hand running through his hair. He could worry about his flower problems and complicated love life later. Right now Naruto was perfectly content to fall asleep with Kakashi by his side and enjoy the moment for as long as it lasted… 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 _‘I get why Asuma thought it was funny to see me in this movie now,’_

That was the first thought to jump into Kakashi’s head upon seeing himself finally show up in the movie. The movie was actually really good much to his surprise, and the plot was interesting enough to get Kakashi to get invested in it. Yet, for as good as the movie was it was a bit hard focus on the movie plot when his memories of the mission was playing in the back of his mind and he was watching himself on the screen. When he looked at the gentle graceful composed Princess character all he could think of was how the actress had actually been cold, blunt, and completely void of any hope. She hadn’t gotten much better mostly because of Naruto’s purely stubborn nature, but it was hard to not think of how she had been as he watched the movie. It was hard not to think of the troubles that were running in the background as the movie was being made.

It was a bit hard to watch his team work in the movie and be reminded of simpler times when Sasuke was still there with them and the Akatsuki problem didn’t loom quite so heavily over them. Still, while those darker things lingered in the background they mostly stayed in the background. It was all too easy to focus on his team and see just how they had been worked into the story. He really didn’t know how to feel about how they worked him and his team into the movie. The movie had labeled them as a group of iron foraged friends who traveled around the world together much like how Princess Gale and her entourage did. They traveled around helping the innocent and defeating any villain who threatened the world. 

Honestly, they were set up to be like a mirror image of Princess Gale’s group. It was heavily hinted throughout the movie that Kakashi and his group had their own story that was just as epic and grand as Princess Gale’s trilogy was, but they didn’t go into too much detail. Considering the fact that Koyuki had said that the movie director would hire them as actors in a heartbeat in her note that was attached to the move’s box Kakashi could not help but wonder if this was the director’s way of leaving a door open to make a movie based on the in-movie Team 7. The idea of that was comical, but the director had been a quirky enough guy that the possibly wasn’t as ridicules as it probably should have been.

As for how his team was characterized in the movie it was rather comical to the point that Kakashi understood why Asuma had found it so very funny. Everyone in his team had their voices dubbed over, and the characterization that had been given to them was something else to say the least. Sakura had been given a gentle soft spoken voice. In the movie she was a timid gentle thing who cared for their team. She was a peacemaker who would prefer not to fight at all, but would fight when needed to. The real Sakura was also a kind girl, but she was nowhere near timid. She spoke her mind and she was quick to point out when one of her teammates did something stupid. She didn’t hesitate to enter a battle when she had to fight, and she could smash boulders into pieces with her fists alone. Just hearing the girl yell in rage was enough the strike the fear of god into some people. Movie Sakura and real Sakura were total opposites really. 

Mercifully, there wasn’t much to be said about movie Sasuke. They had taken the idea of the stern silent type character and ran right out of the stadium with it when they were putting together his character for the movie. He was almost mute in the movie with only him calling out his teammates in worry or scolding. The film characterized him as being protective of his team. It hurt to see the person who Sasuke used to be before his hunger for revenge and power caused him to leave them all behind. Luckily, when it came to the movie Sasuke tended to just linger in the background along with Sakura. They were not ignored per say, but they were not the main characters. 

No out of their group Kakashi and Naruto had been pushed into the forefront and made into characters who were just as important as Princess Gale. Out of the two Naruto was given a bit more attention than Kakashi was. The movie version of Naruto wasn’t that much different from the real Naruto. Cheerful, high energy, determined, and caring to those around him. Although, one thing that Kakashi noticed was that in the movie Naruto had clearly been made the leader of his Team which wasn’t true to real life although maybe it wasn’t surprising that they did that for the movie. Naruto had been the one who was rather driven to help drag Koyuki out of her shell and get her to start caring about the world and her life again. Since he was in the forefront so much during that mission it only made sense that the movie would put him in the role of leader and make him one of the main characters.

What made things strange was how his character interacted with Kakashi in the movie. In the movie they had made Kakashi an aloof character. He was co-leader with Naruto in the movie, and he was clearly set up to be the strongest of the team. Honestly, Kakashi would not have thought much of how the movie portrayed him if it wasn’t for one little fact. 

The movie version of Kakashi and Naruto were close to each other. 

Very very close to each other. 

In the movie when Kakashi’s character interacted with Naruto the aloof personality was dropped to be replaced with a caring personality. He was protective and open to Naruto, and Naruto’s character was just as caring and open back to him. Both characters spoke of their ‘close bond’ to each other so much that Kakashi was sure that if he got a ryō coin for each time this ‘bond’ was mentioned in the movie he would be the richest man in the Land of Fire. It was almost borderline over the top just how much these two characters cared for each other. Kakashi was sure that most of the comedy that Asuma got out of the film was due to this bit of the movie.

Kakashi honestly wasn’t sure how to feel about it himself. To some extant he really had to wonder just how the director was able to film enough moments of Kakashi and Naruto together to make this special bond thing that they were going with seem actually believable. Apparently he was filming a lot more things behind the scenes then Kakashi had realized. He was almost impressed that the director was able to do that and not have Kakashi notice. Although, honestly Kakashi wasn’t able to think much about the director.

All he could think about was how he was almost jealous of how open the two characters in the movie were able to be with each other. It was all so easy for the Kakashi in the movie to tell Naruto how he cared about him. How much he liked him. He could say all of those things to Naruto and have Naruto not freak out about it. Kakashi wished he could tell Naruto how much he liked him without having the boy think it was weird. He wished he could openly show his affection for Naruto for all the world to see like the movie version of himself was. He wished Naruto could return that affection without any issues. He wanted all of that so badly that it hurt.

 _‘Jealous of a movie version of yourself,’_ Kakashi thought with bitter amusement. _‘Way to reach a new pathetic low, Kakashi.’_

Was he the only one reading into the loving nature of their relationship in the movie? A few glances at Naruto during those moments when the ‘bond’ was brought up seemed to imply so. Naruto wasn’t reacting all the strongly to those bits of the movie. Maybe that should not be all that surprising. The bond in the movie was made just vague enough that it was easy to think of the bond as being one of close friends that could only be created by fighting and traveling together for years. Maybe Kakashi was only one seeing it through a romantic lens due to his hidden feelings for Naruto. Ultimately, it didn’t matter. The only thing that did matter was the fact that the movie was a lot harder to watch then Kakashi was expecting.

Any thoughts on the movie came to a screeching halt when he felt Naruto slowly lean up against him. He tensed up a bit when he felt the blond lean up against him, but he quickly relaxed. When he looked down at Naruto the boy smiled up at him. Kakashi couldn’t help but smile back. It was impossible to not smile when Naruto was giving him that sunny grin of his. Kakashi asked if he was tired the boy admitted that he was, but when Kakashi offered to turn the movie off so he could go to sleep he quickly rejected that idea. The boy was apparently determined to try and stay awake for the whole movie. 

_‘His determination can be really cute sometimes,’_ Kakashi thought. 

Of course soon after he thought that an suddenly idea hit him, and Kakashi didn’t waste any time in making his idea into reality. Slowly. All so very slowly he wrapped an arm around Naruto’s shoulder. When the boy didn’t complain or make any moves that suggested he was uncomfortable he slowly moved his hand into Naruto’s hair and started running his fingers through Naruto’s blond hair. Naruto seemed to just melt into his touch. Kakashi couldn’t help but smile at that. It was easy to ignore the movie in favor of focusing his attention on Naruto. The movie became background noise as Kakashi just enjoyed the moment.

For as spiky as Naruto’s hair was it was surprisingly soft to the touch. Naruto let out a soft content sigh at the touch as he snuggled closer to Kakashi. Kakashi was honestly a little surprised by the fact that Naruto was apparently comfortable with snuggling so closely to Kakashi of all people, but he didn’t dare comment on it. He was sure that any comment on it would cause Naruto to fling himself to the other end of the couch and stay there, and Kakashi didn’t want that. Kakashi wanted this moment to last forever. He could do without the conflicting emotions that the movie was giving him, but honestly he would watch this movie over again and again if it meant that he could have Naruto by his side like this. He would do anything to be able to look Naruto and see him smile up at him in joy as if spending time with Kakashi was the only thing he needed to be happy.

When things were like this it was all too easy to forget about all his and Naruto’s problems. It was so simple to just sit back and enjoy the moment. It was too easy to pretend for one brief moment that relaxed moments like this could actually happen again. It was so easy to pretend for this one moment that Naruto loved him, and that these small moments where they could curl up together in the couch and be happy could happen every day when they are together. Reality made it impossible to truly get lost in the dream but he could enjoy it while it lasted. 

Eventually the blond fell asleep snuggled up against Kakashi. Kakashi used the nearby remote to turn the TV off once he noticed that the blond was asleep. He didn’t particularly care to finish the movie now that Naruto was asleep. Once the TV was off Kakashi sat there unsure of what to do. He should probably put Naruto in his room so that he could sleep on his bed, but honestly Kakashi didn’t want to move. He didn’t want to put an end to this moment. Although, as he stared at Naruto he was slowly starting to realize that maybe putting an end to the moment would be a lot harder then he first realized.

Sometime after he had fallen asleep the boy had wrapped his arms around Kakashi’s waist. Whenever Kakashi made a movement that even slightly suggested that he was trying to break Naruto’s grip on him Naruto would tighten his grip around Kakashi as if to make sure that the masked man couldn’t escape from his place in his arms. If Kakashi really wanted to he could probably break away from Naruto’s grasp, but he had no desire to do that. He was willing to use this as an excuse to stay right there and just enjoy the moment. An idea slowly crept into the Hatake’s mind and while at first he was quick to dismiss the idea it refused to leave his mind. 

He hesitated for a moment before he finally thought _‘Hell, why not?’_

Slowly the man pulled down his mask. Once his mask was off he slowly pressed a kiss to the top of the blonde’s head. That kiss seemed to cause the blond to let out a soft sigh in his sleep and happily murmur a name. 

“Kakashi…”

“Dreaming of me are you?” Kakashi murmured as he straightens up and puts his mask back on. “Is it a happy dream Naruto?” 

The boy didn’t respond, but the smile on his face told Kakashi it was indeed a happy dream. Without really thinking of it Kakashi shoved his headband up so that it was no longer covering his Sharingan. The tomoe of his Sharingan slowly spun about as it permanently committed this moment into Kakashi’s memory.

“Let me keep this moment in my memory,” Kakashi murmured as he smoothed back the boy’s hair. “Let me treasure these moments and be happy with whatever scraps of affection that I am lucky enough to get from you.” 

Naruto made no indication that he heard Kakashi at all. Naruto just tightened his grip on the man as he murmured Kakashi’s name in his sleep. Kakashi decided to take that as permission to permanently embed this moment into his memory. Deep down he knew this wouldn’t be enough to satisfy him. It would never be enough for him. Yet, Kakashi would deal with it. He learned a long time ago to cherish what happy moments that life was willing to give him. Like it or not these small moments would have to be enough….

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Daisy: A daisy can be used to say "I will never tell". It can also be used to symbolize innocence, purity, and true love.
> 
> Pakkun's guess on what Kakashi looks like: There is like a manga chapter floating around out there were the ninken are trying to figure out what Kakashi looks like under the mask while talking to Naruto. I think it had been so long since they saw him without the mask that they sort of forgot what he looked like, or something like that. Surprisingly, Pakkun ended up being right on the money on just how Kakashi looked. They ended up seeing what Kakashi looks like soon after they made their guesses. 
> 
> Anyway, sort of a short chapter this time around but that is mostly because we are reaching the midway point. Things will start really kicking off in the next chapter.


	12. Aconitum

_‘Something is seriously wrong in the Leaf Village,’_

That was the very first thought to enter Neji’s head upon coming back to the village from a four-day mission with Tenten. It wasn’t anything that became immediately apparent to him. When he stepped into the village everything seemed fine. Nothing was on fire, no one seemed to have died while they were gone, and everything seemed calm. Upon entering the village, he honestly thought everything was fine. However, upon stepping into the Hokage’s Tower and seeing Sakura and Sai the sudden feeling of unease washed over him. For whatever reason Sakura looked worried, and she seemed to be in a rush. She seemed distracted as she walked past Neji and his teammate. Her eyes were glue onto the small stack of folders that she held. Her gaze was distant as she hurried along with a slight slouch in her posture as if she were dwelling on some bad news that she just couldn’t work her mind around.

Sai was following after her like her own personal shadow. He seemed to be a bit more with it since he bothered to give Neji and Tenten a nod in greeting, but he said nothing as he followed his pink haired teammate out of the tower. As he left Neji could not help but notice that for once the boy’s face wasn’t its usual blank mask. Instead, his lips were turns slightly downward in a thoughtful frown, and his eyes had the same sort of worry in them that Sakura had. It was subtle enough that most people probably wouldn’t have noticed the small cracks in the boy’s mask but Neji had known the boy just long enough to spot the cracks all the same. 

He obviously wasn’t alone in noticing because the second the two members of Team Kakashi were gone Tenten looked at him and asked “Did they seemed troubled to you?”

“You noticed as well?” Neji commented as he continued on his way toward the Hokage’s Office. 

Tenten nodded as she said “Yeah, even Sai seemed a bit worried and that guy never looks worried.”

It was at that moment a small seed of concern settled in his heart. If something was bad enough to worry Sai enough for him to actually show that worry, then something was seriously wrong. That feeling of unease only grew when he stepped into the Hokage’s Office just in time to see Tsunade releasing a messenger bird out of her window. The look on her face was grim like she was sending out a missive of war. Jiraiya was there was well, but he wasn’t paying any attention to Neji or Tenten. He was just wordlessly handing a stack of letters over to a toad summon. The summon said nothing either. He just took the letters and left obviously going off to deliver the rather hefty stack of letters. When Tenten gave her report on their mission it was clear to Neji that Tsunade wasn’t really paying full attention to his report. She was staring down at the papers on her desk with that grim look of hers. Meanwhile, Jiraiya was continuing to ignore them as he started to flip through a book that he pulled out of a pile of books that he had by his feet. The title of the book that he was holding had captured Neji’s attention rather quick. 

_Curse Jutsu: The Rise and Downfall of the Forbidden Jutsu_

Neji couldn’t help but raise a single brow in thought upon seeing that. Why was Jiraiya reading through a book like that? The small stack of books that Jiraiya had at his feet really didn’t help him figure it out. From where he was standing he could read a couple of titles, but the few titles he did read just made him more confused. 

_Breaking Curses 101_

_Magic or Jutsu: A Study on Jutsu Use in Folktales_

_Figuring out Fact from Fiction in Folktales_

_‘Why would he be reading books like that?’_ Neji wondered. 

He honestly didn’t know. For one very brief second he wondered if it was research for those books that he wrote, but he was quick to disregard that idea. He didn’t really know much about the books that Jiraiya wrote and honestly he didn’t want to know, but what little he did know implied that they didn’t exactly dip into the subjects of folktales or jutsu very much. The look on Jiraiya’s face also made it clear that he was reading these books for a serious reason. He looked just as tired and glum as the Hokage did. That was concerning. Of course now that he was thinking of it Sakura and Sai had probably been in the office with the Hokage not too long ago. Whatever it was that was bothering them was most likely the same thing that was bothering Jiraiya and Tsunade. 

_‘Just what in the world happened while we were away?’_ He thought. 

It took some serious willpower from him to keep from asking. The only thing he could think of was that something happened to Team Kakashi while they were away. Although, what could have possibly happened? If someone had died Sai and Sakura would have probably told them the second they saw them. Did a mission go wrong? He doubted it. From what he understood Team Kakashi were still supposed to be serving their punishment of D Rank missions. What serious thing could go wrong while working on a D Rank mission of all things? Did something involving Hiruko happen? The answer to that question was probably no. The man was dead and gone. As far as he knew no one suffered from anything serious from their encounter with him, so that couldn’t be the source of whatever was going on. Neji racked his brain for an answer to what was wrong, but he was coming up blank.

By the time Tenten wrapped up her report someone started knocking on her door.

“Come in,” Tsunade called out. 

The door opened only to reveal Yamato. The man had a rather bright smile on his face, but upon seeing the foreboding look on the Hokage’s face his smile faded. Just like Neji he was quick to notice that something was very wrong.

“Yamato,” Tsunade said. “I have been waiting for you.” 

She glanced over at Tenten and Neji and said “You two are dismissed for now. Good job on the mission.” 

Neji nodded and quickly left the room with Tenten. Just before the door closed behind them Neji heard Tsunade say “Yamato before you give me your report I need to tell you something about Naruto.” 

The door clicked shut before Neji could hear anymore. The two members of Team Guy stood there in silence for a moment unsure of what to say.

Eventually Tenten broke the silence by asking “Do you think there is something is wrong with Naruto?”

“I have no idea,” Neji answered honestly. 

They left the Hokage Tower in silence both of them lost in their own thoughts. They were about to say goodbye to each other so they could go to their respective homes, but just when they were about to do so they heard two very familiar voices call out to them.

“Neji! Tenten!” 

Neji almost felt like sighing when he saw Lee and Guy quickly walking toward them on their hands, but he couldn’t help but smile just a bit upon seeing it. You knew you were in the Leaf Village when you saw Guy and Lee up to their usual shenanigans. When the green clad ninjas had reached Tenten and Neji they righted themselves and gave Neji and Tenten two matching smiles.

“Ah, my students it is wonderful to see you back from your mission!” Guy said with way too much energy. “Your mission went well?”

“Our mission was fine,” Tenten said as she smiled. “It was just a simple escort mission. We got the merchant to the next town over with no problems.” 

“While it may be simple we should always be happy and proud of a job well done!” Guy said. “We should celebrate your return!”

Once Guy made a plan there was really no getting out of it. Every member of Team Guy had learned that lesson a long time ago. So when Tenten and Neji heard Guy's loud shout that they should celebrate they both mentally shrugged and went with the flow. 

“Well, I know it is still a bit early for dinner but Neji and I haven’t gotten anything to eat yet.” Tenten said slowly.

“I wouldn’t mind getting some sushi,” Neji added.

“An excellent idea, Neji!” Guy said enthusiastically. “In fact this will give me a chance to train for my upcoming eating contest with my hip cool rival!” 

Upon hearing that Neji immediately thought _‘Oh Kami what have I just signed myself up for.’_

It was too late to back out now. Lee and Tenten were already leading the charge chattering on about what sushi restaurant that they should go to. Neji sighed and just decided to go with the flow. He followed them without comment and allowed his mind to drift to the one topic that refused to leave his head. 

What is wrong with Naruto?

What had happened to the boy? Was it something serious? Was he hurt? Was he sick? Would Guy know what was going on? 

Upon thinking of his teacher he looked back at the man only to see a troubling sight. The man looked lost in thought, and whatever it was that he was thinking about obviously wasn’t a good thing. That small feeling of unease that he had felt earlier today was slowly growing into full on dread. Honestly, the fact that Guy wasn’t enthusiastically leading the charge to the restaurant right alongside Lee that should have been his first clue that something was wrong. When Guy noticed that Neji was staring at him he would give Neji one of his infamous grins and a thumbs up. Neji would quickly look away when he got that, but once he was sure Guy was no longer looking at him he would look back at Guy only to see that thoughtful worried look on his face. Seeing that look on Guy’s face of all places was like a blaring warning sign that something was wrong. The only other time Neji had seen Guy look that worried was when Lee was hospitalized. It wasn’t a look Neji ever wanted to see on his teacher’s face. 

They reached a restaurant that both Lee and Tenten had agreed on quickly enough, and Guy put on his usual theatrics as he ordered more sushi then any sane man should. Yet, now that Neji was really watching Guy he was starting to realize that the man’s usual hyper energy was slight subdued. He had dealt with Guy long enough to be able to spot such a thing. It was confusing to the point of being aggravating. What was wrong? What had happened while he was gone? Is whatever that was bothering Guy the same thing that was bothering the Hokage and most of Team Kakashi. Should he ask? Would he get an answer if he did ask? The questions swirled around in Neji’s head and they refused to leave even once their orders were delivered. He probably would have spent all of dinner sitting their debating if he should ask Guy what was wrong if Tenten didn’t shake things up by asking what seemed like an innocent question.

“So what have we missed while we were gone?” Tenten asked as she picked up her cup of tea.

Guy didn’t answer that question right away. He just frowned as if he didn’t know how to answer that. Lee’s smile faded slightly upon hearing that question, and the fact that the boy’s previously bright smile faded at all to such a simple question was just more proof to Neji that something was wrong. Lee fidgeted slightly in his seat. He seemed to be debating with himself over if he should say what he was thinking. Tenten glanced over at Neji in confusion upon seeing that only for Neji to shrug in response. Lee didn’t typically have any issues saying what was on his mind. It was strange to see him hesitate like this. Eventually Lee seemed to decide that he was going go through with saying what was on his mind. 

“Who do you think Naruto is in love with?”

Tenten started choking on her tea while Neji just stared at Lee unsure of what to say. That really wasn’t what Neji was expecting Lee to say. Strangely, Guy didn’t seem surprised by the out of nowhere question. He just gave Lee a brief side glance as he shoved a piece of sushi into his mouth. Honestly, if anything he looked like he sort of expected that question to come up.

When Tenten finally got her coughing fit under control she quickly sputtered out “Why are you asking that?” 

Lee frowned as he said “Naruto has a crush on someone, but he can’t say who. It’s really tearing him up to not confess.”

Guy cringed a little at that comment, but before Neji could question it he heard Tenten laugh a little.

“Well, if we were taking the Hiruko situation seriously I might say Kakashi.” Tenten joked. “But his freak out about everyone’s suggestion of anything romantic happening between them sort of sinks that ship.”

Guy frowned at that although Neji didn’t know why. 

He opened his mouth to ask only to snap it shut when he heard Tenten ask “Could he have a crush on Hinata?”

“Why Hinata?” Lee asked. 

“Well, during the chūnin exam he went out of his way to make that blood promise to beat the hell out of Neji for what he did to her. And boy did he fulfill that promise.”

It was Neji’s turn to cringe a little now. He wasn’t exactly proud of past him for what he did to Hinata or how he handled anything back then. He really did need that kick in the head that Naruto gave him, but he would always regret that he needed that kick to the head in the first place. 

Tenten spotted his look and gave him an apologetic look as she said “Sorry Neji, but you were a jerk back then.”

“It’s alright,” Neji said. “I’m not exactly proud of some of the things I did back then.”

Tenten smiled at him, but turned her attention away from him when Lee asked “Do you really think he loved Hinata?”

“I think the possibility is there,” Tenten said. “He was rather protective of her and ready to throw down with Neji right then and there at the exams after Neji's fight with Hinata. I think I remember Naruto saying that Hinata really helped encourage him once when he was feeling down. They are always cheering each other on to do their best and achieve their goals. They always speak highly of each other, and I have never heard them say anything negative about each other. All in all, they have had nothing but positive interactions with each other.”

Tenten glanced over at Neji and said “Besides Hinata has been carrying a torch for Naruto for years now hasn’t she?”

“Hinata-sama has had a crush on Naruto for years now,” Neji slowly confirmed.

Lee seemed to light up a bit upon hearing that. “So you think Hinata is the one that Naruto likes?”

“I think it is a strong possibility,” Tenten said. “I can’t really think of anyone else that he could still have a crush on. I know he used to have one on Sakura, but his crush on her faded a long time ago didn’t it?”

"Kakashi says he sees her as a sister.” Guy commented. 

Neji really had to wonder when Kakashi had told Guy that.

Tenten nodded upon hearing that and said “Well, there you go then. It isn't Sakura. I can’t really think of anyone else that Naruto could like outside of Hinata.” 

“What about Ino?” Lee asked. 

Tenten shook her head “Nah, they are friends no doubt about that but they don’t interact that much. I don’t really think they have a lot of chemistry together anyway.”

Neji slowly started to tune his teammates out as they continued to discuss people that Naruto could possibly have a crush on. None of their suggestions really stuck out as being likely, so it honestly didn’t warrant his attention. No, instead his mind was too busy trying to process the idea of Naruto liking Hinata. Hinata liked Naruto. Everyone who was friends with the girl knew it. Even total strangers could figure it out when they watched how she interacted with the boy. She didn’t hide it at all, and the only reason Naruto never noticed was because the boy could be incredibly thick sometimes. However, no one really knew how Naruto felt about her. He cared about her that was for certain, but did he love her romantically? The more Neji thought about it the more he was certain that the answer to that question would be one Hinata would be heartbroken to hear. No matter how he thought of it he could not think of anything that screamed romantic to him nor could he think of anything that suggested that they had a very close bond that could become romantic if given time. 

The rest of dinner went on with Lee and Tenten enthusiastically trying to figure out who Naruto was in love with while Neji stayed lost in thought. While lost in his own head he was at least aware enough to notice that Guy wasn’t joining in on the conversation or making any loud comments. He was most definitely listening to their conversation, but what he was thinking as he listened to them was anyone’s guess. 

It was only when everyone but Guy had finished eating did Neji finally ask a question of his own. “Is this crush that Naruto can’t confess to the only thing that is bothering him?”

Lee’s smile faded a bit upon hearing that. “It is connected to Naruto’s real problem.”

“Naruto’s real problem?” Tenten repeated in confusion.

Lee didn’t look her in the eye as he said “Naruto’s sick. Very sick.”

“What does him being sick have to do with his crush?” Neji asked.

Lee looked like he was about to answer, but that was when Guy chose to jump into the conversation. 

“Lee why don’t you walk Tenten home and explain it to her while you’re walking. I need to talk to Neji alone for a while.”

Lee looked curious as to just why Guy needed to talk to Neji, but he didn’t question it. He just nodded and stood up. Tenten shot Neji a confused look, but said nothing as she stood up and followed Lee out of the restaurant. As they left Neji heard Lee ask Tenten “What do you know about curse jutsu?”

 _‘Curse jutsu?’_ Neji thought in confusion. 

They were out of the building before Neji could hear Tenten’s answer. Neji looked at his sensei and gave the man a look that just screamed _‘What the hell was Lee talking about?’_

“Neji,” Guy said seriously. “I know you want to know what is going on with Naruto, but before we can discuss that I have to ask you something. Do you really think Naruto loves Hinata?” 

Neji stared down at his half full cup of tea as he thought about how he should answer that question. He had an answer, but he was unsure of how he should word it. 

After a few seconds had passed the pale eyed boy said “Hinata-sama has been in love with Naruto for a long time now. I think she has loved him since she first became a genin, or maybe even earlier than that. I have no doubt that she truly loves him, but...” 

“But…?” 

“I don’t think Naruto feels the same way.”

“Why do you say that?” Guy asked. 

“Naruto honestly doesn’t treat her any differently from how he treats Sakura or Ino. Sure, he made that oath to defeat me for her but that doesn’t mean much. He would have made that oath for any of his other friends if they had been beaten down in a similar way. Besides, I think my behavior back then was bad enough that Naruto would have wanted to beat some sense into me promise or no promise. My behavior back then rubbed him the wrong way from day one.” Neji frowned a bit. “Honestly, what he has done for her isn’t any different then what he would do for any of his other friends. They are a bit closer these days when compared to their genin days, but their friendship doesn’t seem that different compared to any of Naruto’s friendships with people outside of his team. He seems to be as close to her as he is to myself, or Lee.”

The boy tapped his fingers down against the table as he chewed on his lip in thought. There was more he wanted to say although he wasn’t sure if it was something he should actually say to his sensei. Mentally shrugging he decided to throw caution to the wind and spill his thoughts to his teacher. “Honestly, there are only two moments with Naruto that stick out in my mind as being significant enough to possibly hint at Naruto having deeper feelings for someone that go beyond friendship.” 

“And what are those two moments?”

“When Naruto went off to save Gaara, and when Naruto rushed off to save Kakashi. Naruto was almost single minded when it came to rescuing Gaara. It wasn’t just because it was a mission either. You could just feel the worry rolling off of him in waves. If Gaara had truly died on that mission, I honestly think some part of Naruto would have broken. I had never seen Naruto so worried before. Even when we were on the job to get Sasuke back he was never that worried.” The boy shrugged slightly. “Naruto has always had a sort of bond with Gaara that always felt fundamentally different from his bond with his other friends. To say that they are close would probably be a bit of an understatement.” 

Neji took a sip of his tea and silently wondered if he should even bother mentioning the other instance. Maybe he was looking far too deeply into it. Maybe he was seeing romantic love when all that was there was a love of a brotherly figure or something like that. Yet, he couldn’t brush the moment off as nothing. He sighed as he stared down at the contents of his cup. 

“His worry for Gaara was strong, but it pales in comparison to his reaction to Kakashi’s close encounter with death.” He looked up and stared at his sensei. “Naruto wasn’t just worried he was frantic. Everyone thought the only way to stop a possible war was by sacrificing Kakashi, but Naruto wouldn’t have it. He wouldn’t let it happen. Everyone was trying to stop him from rescuing Kakashi. The Hokage, Shikamaru, and even Gaara tried to talk him out of it and when that didn’t work they fought him to try and stop him or they tried to lock him away. Still, Naruto refused to give up on saving Kakashi. He fought them all without a second thought.” 

Guy smiled a little as he said “Young Naruto would never give up on saving a friend. Especially a friend that as close to him as Kakashi is.” 

“Yes, but think about this Guy. Naruto went against the orders of the Hokage. He left the village without permission. There was a very high danger of him being labeled a missing-nin. If that happened, he would lose his chance to ever become Hokage.” 

“Becoming the Hokage is Naruto’s biggest dream. His flames of youth burn brightly in his attempt to reach that goal.” 

“And yet he was willing to throw away his chance at achieving his longest held dream if it meant saving Kakashi,” Neji said. “At that time nothing else mattered but saving Kakashi. He was willing to risk it all to do that.”

“I see what point you are trying to make here,” Guy said. “Not many people would be willing to put so much at risk just to attempt to save one person. Not only that, but the chances of saving Kakashi were slim. There were so many ways that the rescue could have gone wrong.”

Neji ran a hand through his hair as he let out a frustrated sigh. “Honestly, most of our friends were joking when they hinted that Naruto and Kakashi might be romantically interested in each other but I’m starting to wonder if maybe those jokes actually had a hint of truth to them. Very few people would do what Naruto did to save someone unless they loved them a lot. Yet, at the same time Naruto always goes above and beyond to save a friend, and he practically shut down when he heard the jokes. Did he shut down because we ended up speaking the truth unknowingly or did he shut down because he always freaks out at jokes like that and didn’t like what we were implying?” 

It was through sheer force of will that Neji didn’t let out a groan of frustration. Naruto was usually so simple to understand. He wore his heart on his sleeve, and spoke his mind regardless of if it would tick anyone off or not. Complicated was never a word that he would usually apply to the blue eyed boy. Yet, right now Naruto felt like a complicated puzzle that Neji was having trouble putting together. He felt like he had all of the pieces puzzle, but he couldn’t figure out how to put them together.

Would Naruto have reacted the same way if someone else had been in Kakashi’s position? Would he have freaked out as badly? He didn’t know. Other than Gaara no one had ever ended up in such a situation before, so it wasn’t like he had a lot of moments to compare and contrast this to. Even Gaara’s situation wasn’t exactly the same. The stakes were high, but Naruto’s whole life wasn’t at stake. There was no danger of being labeled as a missing-nin or causing a full on war if he failed. There were no friends standing in his way trying to hold him back. Actually, the more he thought about it the more he realized just how unique Kakashi's situation had been. 

For once Neji was lost and clueless. He didn’t know what to think, and he didn't know what to do.

 _‘Can’t we just ask Naruto how he feels about Kakashi?’_ Neji thought. 

Of course right when he thought that he remembered that Lee had said that Naruto couldn’t say who he loved. Did that mean Naruto legitimately couldn’t say who he was in love with? Why? Neji couldn’t stop a groan of frustration from escaping from himself this time.

“Is everything that Naruto did for Kakashi signs of romantic love, or are they just signs of how far Naruto would go to save the people he cares about?” Neji asked.

An almost bitter smile appeared on Guy’s face as he said “That is the question of the hour isn’t it? Unfortunately, I don’t have an answer to that question.”

Neji stared at his sensei for a moment before he finally asked the question that had been hanging over him for a majority of the day.

“Guy-sensei, what exactly is wrong with Naruto?” 

Guy let out a soft sigh as he gave Neji a tired serious look.

“There is a reason why Lee is so instant on figuring out who Naruto is in love with. It actually connected to Naruto’s condition.”

Guy suddenly launched into an explanation of Naruto probably being under the effects of a curse jutsu and how the boy was coughing up flowers and flower petals, and that there was a very real possibility that the only way for the curse to be broken was by having Naruto confess to his crush and have his love returned. It sounded ridiculous. It sounded like something out of the fairy tales he remembered reading with Hinata back when they were young before his father had died and he became bitter. He wanted to laugh and tell Guy to quit joking. However, Guy’s serious look and soft look made it very clear that he wasn’t joking. He was dead serious. For as insane as it sounded Neji could do nothing but accept what he heard as fact. So many questions flashed through Neji’s mind. 

Where had Naruto gotten this curse?

Why would Naruto of all people be cursed?

Why would he get some a strange curse?

The questions haunted Neji for the rest of the night, but honestly the answers to those questions didn’t matter. What mattered was the fact that Guy’s grim attitude, Team Kakashi’s worry, and the Hokage’s somber mood were all a sign. A sign that things were about to get really bad very quickly. 

It was just too bad that Neji didn’t realize that until it was far too late…

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 **Bang! Bang! Bang!**

The sound of someone banging on the door was what ripped Naruto out of the land of dreams. He didn’t open his eyes as he buried his head into the soft fabric that he was leaning up against. Whoever the hell it was that was banging on the door could get lost. He wasn’t ready to get up yet, and he definitely was not happy about the fact that he had been woken up at all. He had been having such a pleasant dream. Already, the dream was starting to fade from his memories but he could remember the best bits still. He could remember Kakashi holding his hand and kissing his head. He could remember hearing Kakashi’s soft voice whispering in his ear. He couldn’t remember what Kakashi had said, but he was sure that it had been something sweet and loving. 

**Bang! Bang! Bang!**

Naruto grumbled a little under his breath at the continued knocking, but he froze when he heard Kakashi’s voice speak to him. 

“Maa, Naruto you have to let me go so I can answer the door.” 

Naruto opened his eyes only to quickly realize two things. Thing number one was the fact that his face was smashed up against Kakashi’s stomach. Thing number two was the fact that had his arms wrapped rather tightly around Kakashi. Naruto quickly let go of Kakashi and scrambled up into a sitting position. 

“S-sorry!” Naruto quickly squeaked out as a deep red blush stained his cheeks. 

Kakashi just ruffled Naruto’s hair as he said “Don’t worry about it. It’s fine.”

Kakashi stood up and left the room to answer the door. Naruto sighed once he was out of the room. How long had he been asleep? He had no idea. Kakashi’s living room didn’t have a window and there was no clock anywhere to be seen. His thoughts were dropped by the wayside when Kakashi returned with a familiar brunette by his side. 

Naruto smiled as he loudly said “Yamato-sensei! You’re back from your mission!”

“Hello Naruto,” Yamato said as a soft smile appeared on his face. “I hear you all have been rather busy while I was gone.” 

“Tsunade-sama already fill you in on everything?” Kakashi asked. 

“Yes, she told me all about what has been going on with the team.” The man frowned as he looked at Naruto. “She also told me about Naruto’s curse.”

Naruto’s grin faded upon hearing that. When he was relaxing with Kakashi it had been easy to shove any thoughts about his curse to the darkest recesses of his mind. With one simple comment Yamato had dragged those thoughts back out into the light. Yamato at least had the decency to look apologetic at bringing up such an unpleasant topic. 

“I’m not here on a social call unfortunately,” Yamato said. “The Hokage wanted me to escort you to the hospital for a checkup. There is a Hyūga medic-nin that she wants to have check you over.”

Naruto let out a loud sigh upon hearing that. He really hated going to the hospital. 

_‘Then again who actually enjoys going to the hospital?’_ Naruto thought as he slid off of the couch. 

He was pretty steady on his feet, but Kakashi was still at his side in a second. He was giving Naruto his room to move forward, but he was clearly hovering close by in case Naruto’s strength gave out. “Are you feeling alright?” Kakashi asked as he followed him. “I’m fine sensei,” Naruto assured him.

“Alright, but if you start feeling unsteady let me know alright?” Kakashi said. 

Naruto nodded while Yamato just smile a little at the scene. Upon stepping outside Naruto could see that the sun was starting to set. It looked like he slept until about late afternoon.

 _‘Slept a little longer then I wanted,’_ Naruto thought. 

Shrugging that off Naruto asked Yamato “You got enough energy for a party tonight, or should we have the party tomorrow?” 

“Party?” Yamato said in confusion. “What party?”

Kakashi chuckled a bit at that question. 

Obviously he knew exactly what Naruto was going on about because he said “The Team 7 initiation party.” 

“We are gonna have banana boats,” Naruto chirped out. 

Yamato just stared at Naruto for a few seconds only to move his gaze onto Kakashi. Kakashi didn’t seemed bothered by the look.

He just said “I decided to share a few recipes that ol’ Rabbit bothered to show me.” 

Yamato looked a bit surprised upon hearing that, but eventually a small smile appeared on his face. “He did always say that he wanted us to share any recipes that he taught us with our teammates.” 

He shook his head a little as he asked “So how did an idea for this party come up?” 

“We started talking about it over breakfast, and realized that it had been forever since we last had banana boats,” Naruto said. 

“It sort of snowballed from there and we decided to just make it a Team 7 thing,” Kakashi added.

“We decided to make it like an official welcome party to Sai,” Naruto said. “We can make it your welcome party too. We can have it be a really late official welcome to the both of you.”

“Well, I’m up for it but not tonight,” Yamato said. “After my mission I need to get one night of peaceful sleep first.”

“How about tomorrow then?” Naruto suggested. 

“Tomorrow works for me,” Yamato said as he smiled.

“Great,” Naruto cheered. “Then tomorrow will be the first official Team 7 initiation party!” 

“We still doing the t-shirt thing with the date on them?” Kakashi asked.

“I would, but Sakura already shot down my idea of having them be orange. If they can’t be orange what’s the point?” 

The confused look that he got from Yamato and the laugh that he got out of Kakashi in response to his comment was enough to keep him grinning the rest of the way to the hospital. Even once they got to the hospital his smile was still rather big. However, it did fade a bit once they walked into the small office where the Hyuga medic was waiting for them. Yamato said his goodbyes, and once he was gone Naruto and Kakashi were left in the office alone with the Hyūga medic. The medic was a man who looked like he was around Kakashi’s age. He had a soft smile on his face, and his long brown hair went down to his mid-back.

“Hello Naruto,” The man said in a soft voice. “I’m Hyūga Haruki. Tsunade-sama wanted me to use Byakugan to check you over.” 

The man motioned for Naruto to come over to him. Once Naruto was standing in front of him he activated his Byakugan. He stared at Naruto for a moment before he frowned.

“Strange,” The man murmured. “Very strange.” 

That did not sound good. 

“What’s wrong?” Kakashi asked. 

Haruki deactivated his Byakugan and ignored Kakashi as he opened up a folder that was on his desk. 

He stared at the files for a moment before he finally said “His chakra is definitely tainted, but not in the way that I expected.” 

“What do you mean?” Kakashi asked slowly.

“The chakra in his chest area is tainted while the chakra running through the rest of his chakra pathway system seems to be normal. Usually, when chakra is being tainted like this all of the chakra in a person's chakra pathway system is tainted. I have never seen only one specific part of a person's chakra be tainted like this before.” He looked up from his papers and looked at Naruto. “Naruto, I want to do a few CT Scans on you. I want to scan over the place where the tainted chakra is centered at and see if we can find anything unusual.”

Naruto sighed, but nodded. If a doctor said he needed to have some scans done then he needed to have some scans done.

“I’ll be waiting here,” Kakashi assured Naruto as the blond was led out of the room. 

It was reassuring to know that Kakashi wasn’t going anywhere, but it did little to rid that small seed of nervousness that had planted itself in Naruto’s head. Naruto was rather silent during the scans. He said nothing through the whole procedure. He couldn’t even think of anything to say. All he felt was nervous and scared. He hoped nothing showed up in the scans, but deep down he knew his luck was bad enough that the chances of them coming out clear were pretty low. When the tests were finished and the Hyūga had the scans in hand Naruto had been reduced to a bundle nerves. When they returned back to the man's office Naruto's nervousness was quickly noticed by Kakashi. Kakashi had wasted no time in taking his place by Naruto as if making sure Naruto knew that he was there to give him emotional support. Naruto appreciated the gesture. He really needed the support right now. 

The Hyūga medic looked grim as he hung the scans up for Kakashi and Naruto to see. 

Once they were up the Hyūga pointed at one of the scans and said “This is a CT scan that that Tsunade-sama took of your lungs back when your condition first started.” 

He then pointed at another scan. “And this is the scan that I just did today.”

Naruto just stared at the two scans. He honestly couldn’t see much of a difference between the two. 

“The scan Tsunade took is clear of any problems, but the one I took has something that worries me.” He pointed at a small almost unnoticeable black dot that was on his lung in the scan. 

Naruto knew jack about CT scans or anything medical for that matter, but one look at the doctor's face told him that the small black dot was rather concerning even if it didn't look like it should be. 

“What is it?” Kakashi asked.

“I don’t know,” The Hyūga admitted. “Honestly, it’s so small I almost missed it. It could honestly be nothing, but with how unique Naruto’s condition is I don’t want to ignore it. The fact that this is showing up pretty much in the same area as the tainted chakra is also very concerning.”

No one said anything for a moment as they all thought about what the man said. Kakashi was the one to finally break the silence by asking "Could his tainted chakra be the cause of it?"

"Yes, I believe it is. There is a very real chance that it only really started developing after Tsuande-sama ran her first batch of tests. If that is true it is very worrying. She ran her tests only a few days ago." 

Hearing that was almost worse then hearing that this problem with his chakra had been there from the start. If this was something that only developed recently then that meant one thing and one thing only. 

_'My curse might be developing faster then we expected,'_ Naruto thought grimly. 

That thought made Naruto feel sick to his stomach. Kakashi must have been having a similar train of thought because he looked just as worried as Naruto was about the whole thing. 

“So what should we do now?” Kakashi asked. 

Naruto was honestly glad that Kakashi had taken over the talking for him because Naruto couldn’t find his voice. He was too busy starting at the little dot on his scans. 

“I want to monitor this. I suggest that Naruto come in to the hospital every three days so that I can check his chakra and see if this taint spreads any, and to make sure that this spot in his CT scan doesn't grow any worse.” The man paused for a moment before he said “There was a note added to your file today that said that lately your coughing fits have been draining your energy to the point that you pass out or are unable to even stand by yourself for a while. Is this true?” 

Naruto only nodded.

“I see,” The man said softly. “If he has another fit like that where he passes out or is so drained of energy that he can barely move by himself I want you to bring him to the hospital immediately. If we do a quick scan right after an attack, we might find out something new that could help us figure out how to treat it until we hopefully find a permanent cure to your problem.” 

The man paused for a moment before he sighed. “If his attacks end up knocking him unconscious again I’ll most likely recommend that he get checked into the hospital permanently so that we can monitor him more closely.” 

Naruto tensed upon hearing that. He felt Kakashi grab his hand and give it a comforting squeeze, and Naruto couldn’t help but squeeze his hand right back. He was probably squeezing Kakashi’s hand hard enough to leave bruises, but if it hurt Kakashi made no complaints. He just let Naruto cling to his hand without saying a word. Naruto was more than grateful for that. He was downright terrified right now. He hated hospitals, and the thought of being stuck in one for who knows how long left a feeling of cold dread in his stomach. He felt helpless. This wasn’t a problem he could punch away or overcome by just training hard enough. He felt like all control that he had over his life was slowly being ripped away from him. That fear that he would become invalid seemed to be coming very close to becoming reality.

“Is there anything else that we should know?” Kakashi asked.

The Hyūga sighed but shook his head. “No, although I wish there was something more positive that I could tell you. Curse jutsu is something that most people don’t have any experience in. Until we get more information there isn’t much that we can do but monitor Naruto’s condition and do what we can to make sure that it doesn’t get any worse.”

There was a bit more talking after that, but Naruto didn’t really listen to any of it. Other than learning that Tsunade had contacted the Land of Vegetables daimyo already and they were just waiting for a reply from her they won’t really saying anything that really mattered to Naruto. Even lost in his own misery Naruto was knew that this check-up was a warning. A warning that he was running out of time...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Didn't originally plan on having Neji have such a big part of this chapter, but I have a few tentative plans for him so why not add him to Guy's little 'desperately trying to figure out who the heck Naruto is in love with' party? 
> 
> Anyway!
> 
> Aconitum/Aconite/Monkshood/ Wolf’s Bane/Devil's Helmet: This flower is used to say "Beware", "Danger is near", "An enemy is lurking nearby". It symbolizes death, hate, and misanthropy.
> 
> Most species of this plant are extremely poisonous also, so you can sort of see where all the danger symbolism is coming from.


	13. Bachelor’s Button

The walk out of the hospital was probably the most tense and quietest moment in Naruto’s life. Naruto felt drained both mentally and emotionally. He wanted to just go to the nearest training field and train until he physically couldn’t anymore. He wanted to unleash as many jutsu as he possibly could until chakra exhaustion threatened to knock him out cold. Of course he couldn’t do any of that. He was banned from physically straining himself. The Hyūga doctor had also banned him from using any chakra whatsoever.

“We have no idea what would happened if you used your chakra while it is tainted like it is,” The Hyūga medic had said. “There is a very real chance that using your chakra could aggravate your condition, so it is important that you don’t use any chakra until we know more about your condition.”

It was aggravating, but Naruto understood the reasoning behind it. Still, that meant that he had no escape from his thoughts. He was stewing in his own misery with no distraction. It wasn’t a pleasant situation to be in. Kakashi didn’t seem to be in a much better head space. The man was slouched over so much that he honestly almost looked like he wanted to just collapse right where he was standing and never move again. His gaze was distant and unfocused. He was clearly running on autopilot right now as they slowly walked back to Kakashi’s apartment. Naruto had no idea what was going through the silver haired man’s head. Honestly, he wasn’t sure if he really wanted to know. He was having a hard enough time processing his own thoughts. 

The silence was almost suffocating. Naruto wanted to break the silence. He wanted a distraction from his thoughts. Yet, he couldn’t think of anything to say. All he could do was silently follow after Kakashi and wish that something would break this silence. For once in his life Naruto actually got his wish. When they were about halfway to Kakashi’s house the man suddenly changed direction. Instead of walking home he started walking toward the marketplace that was nearby.

“Where are you going?” Naruto asked as he followed the silver haired man.

“Maa, you want to have that party tomorrow don’t you?” Kakashi asked as he walked down the path that would take them to the market. “We need to pick up some supplies if we want it to happen. I don’t usually have bags of chocolate chips and marshmallows laying around in my house.”

Naruto stilled upon hearing that. Due to the hospital visit to the hospital Naruto had honestly forgotten all about the little party that his team was going to have. It was a little hard to keep that in mind when you had the reminder that your days could very well be numbered hanging over your head. Upon noticing that Naruto had stopped walking Kakashi also stopped moving.

“Do you not want the party anymore?” 

“I want it!” Naruto quickly said. 

Heck, he didn’t just want it he needed it. He needed that normality more than ever right now.

“Alright,” Kakashi said.

He said nothing more beyond that. He just continued on his way to the market. Naruto quickly scurried after him.

“That’s it?” Naruto said in surprise. 

“You were expecting more?”

“I don’t know,” Naruto said as he shrugged slightly. “I guess I was. I was expecting you to say that maybe I should spend the day resting instead, or that maybe we should cancel the whole thing.”

A soft chuckle escaped from Kakashi upon hearing that. “Naruto we are going to be sitting around a campfire eating food and talking. That isn’t exactly an exhausting endeavor that will put any strain on your body. You aren’t using chakra, and you aren’t working out so you aren’t breaking any of the doctor’s orders.” 

That was true. He wouldn’t be doing anything that went against Tsunade or the Hyūga doctor’s orders.

“We’ll probably cut it short if your curse acts up, but if you are feeling well enough tomorrow and noting comes up I see no reason why we can’t have the party.” 

Kakashi stopped talking for a moment which caused Naruto to look at him. The man was staring straight ahead and not looking at Naruto at all. For one brief second he thought Kakashi was done speaking, but just when he started to think that Kakashi continued talking. 

“When you get bad news or something bad happens to you it can be really easy to get stuck in this dark mindset. It’s way too easy to just dwell on everything bad and shut your friends out and not let yourself have happy moments.” Kakashi sighed. “It’s not a good mindset to be stuck in, and it usually isn’t helpful in the long run.”

Kakashi looked over at him and gave Naruto an eye smile as he said “Naruto, you are still alive and you are still healthy enough to make memories with your friends. Don’t let your curse prevent you from enjoying the simple things in life. Don’t let it control you to the point that you won’t let yourself have any fun or joy in your life at all in favor of staying locked away in your head dwelling on every dark thought that pops up. Trust me when I say staying locked up in your head like that does little good in the end.”

 _‘Speaking from experience?’_ Naruto thought, but he had enough tact to not ask that question out loud.

He knew Kakashi well enough to already know the answer to that question anyway.

“Alright,” Naruto said softly.

“Good,” Kakashi said as he reached out and ruffled Naruto’s hair. “Now come on I need help picking out some good chocolate chips. When it comes to sweets I never know what the best choices are.”

“That’s because you are a weirdo who doesn’t like sweet things,” Naruto joked. 

Kakashi let out a small huff of amusement upon hearing that, but didn’t bother to argue over the fact that not everyone was born with a sweet tooth. Getting the marshmallows and bananas had been a pretty simple affair. Getting the chocolate chips had been a lot harder. Kakashi had wanted to grab the very first cheap bag that he saw. Meanwhile, Naruto wouldn’t settle for anything but the very best chocolate chips.

“Why can’t we just get this bag?” Kakashi had asked as he held up a bag of semisweet chocolate ships. 

“It’s cheap because it isn’t any good,” Naruto said as he pulled out his preferred brand of chocolate chips. “We should get this one instead.”

“Maa, that one is more expensive.”

“You get what you pay for sensei,” Naruto chirped out. “If you want the good stuff you have to shell out for it.” 

“What about these?” Kakashi asked as he picked up a bag of dark chocolate.

“Sakura doesn’t like dark chocolate sensei,” Naruto said as he snatched the bag out of Kakashi’s hand and put it back where it came from. 

They squabbled a bit about the chocolate, but in the end Naruto won the argument to get the chocolate that he wanted. Naruto figured that the shopping trip was over once they got what they needed for the party, but when Naruto said that Kakashi just shook his head. 

“Are you still interested in trying out a few recipes that I picked up from other lands?”

“Of course I am!” Naruto said. “Why? Did you have something special in mind for dinner tonight?”

“Got a recipe from the Land of the Sea in mind. I ate it a lot when I was on a long term mission there, and I thought it was pretty good.”

“Do we need to pick up a few things for it?”

“Yeah, there are a few things we need to pick up if I’m going to make it.”

“What are we going to make anyway?”

Kakashi gave Naruto his infamous eye smile as he said two words “Clam chowder.” 

Naruto blinked a few times upon hearing that. Clams were not exactly things that Naruto ate often, or really at all for that matter. Every once in a blue moon he would have clam miso soup but that was about the extent of his exposure to calm related foods. Clam based dishes were not common in the Leaf Village due to the village being so far inland although that didn’t mean they were not around. Usually when Naruto had the option to get it there was usually also some other option that appealed to him much more. He wasn’t sure what to expect from clam chowder, but Kakashi seemed to have his mind set on the stuff so Naruto wasn’t going to argue against it. Not that he really had time to argue against it. Kakashi was issuing orders and having Naruto run all over the place getting everything that they needed for dinner so that Naruto really didn’t have time to ask much of anything. 

“We need a bag of russet potatoes Naruto. Can you go grab it for me?”

“Go grab some cloves of garlic for me.”

“You know where they keep the bacon? Yes? Good, go grab a pack for me.”

Just when Naruto thought they had everything they needed Kakashi would send him off to get something else. Running around grabbing all of this stuff reminded him a bit too much off all the grocery run D-rank missions he ran back when he was a new fresh faced genin. It was a little annoying, but he had to admit that ruining around the marketplace trying to grab everything that Kakashi needed helped him to keep his mind off of any depressing subjects. To some extant Naruto wondered if Kakashi knew that keeping Naruto busy would help keep his mind off of any dark subjects and that was the reason why the gray haired man was having him do all of this. Knowing Kakashi it was probably a tie between that and being lazy enough to just have Naruto grab everything. Well, almost everything. Kakashi was the one who got the clams although that was all that he grabbed. For the most part Kakashi had given himself the job of going over everything that they had and making sure that they had what they needed for dinner. With that said while Kakashi had Naruto running all over creating getting everything he was the one who insisted on carrying everything.

“I don’t want you to do too much heavy lifting Naruto,” Kakashi had said as he gathered up all of their bags.

Honestly, the amount of bags that he insisted on carrying was ridiculous. He honestly looked overloaded with things.

“I can carry at least one bag sensei,” Naruto said as he rolled his eyes. “I think I can handle carrying a bag without keeling over.” 

Kakashi stared at him for a moment before he let out an exaggerated sigh and thrust the bag of chocolate chips and marshmallows into Naruto’s hands. Naruto rolled his eyes at the theatrics, but took the bag with a smile. He was glad that Kakashi was at least letting him help a little bit. 

_‘Although, thinking about it he’s sort of had me helping him out a lot during this shopping trip.’_ Naruto thought. 

Kakashi wasn’t treating him like he was week and helpless. He was being easier on him sure, but he was still letting Naruto help out a lot. Most other people would have treated him like fragile glass and not let him do anything. Kakashi wasn’t doing that. He wasn’t being hard on him by no means and he was most definitely making sure that Naruto didn’t push himself. With that said he was still letting Naruto help. He wasn’t keeping Naruto confined to a bed. Naruto was grateful that Kakashi wasn’t treating him like he would shatter if he just breathed wrong.

Kakashi broke Naruto out of this thoughts when he said “You seem to be thinking rather hard about something. What is going through that head of yours?”

Not willing to share his real thoughts Naruto quickly said “Just wondering how good this clam chowder stuff will really be. We did get a lot of vegetables for it.”

Kakashi rolled his single visible eye upon hearing that as he started to walk home with Naruto walking right beside him.

“You can’t survive off of just meat, bread, and ramen noodles you know.”

“Hey, I eat plenty of fruit! And I have been surviving off of ramen just fine!”

“And it is a miracle that somehow a diet made up mostly of ramen hasn’t killed you,” Kakashi said. “Also, remind me who it was that got you into eating a lot of fruit in the first place? Who was it that always made sure you had such a large selection of fruit to choose from?”

“You did,” Naruto admitted grudgingly. 

It was true that for the longest time Kakashi was his only provider of fresh fruit and vegetables although Naruto didn’t touch much of the vegetables that Kakashi brought him. It wasn’t really Naruto’s fault. He didn’t get much in the way of money when he was still in the Academy and during his early days as a genin so he tended to have to buy his food in bulk. Cup ramen tended to come in bulk, it was really cheap, and he liked ramen so it was just easy to buy that and call it a night. He couldn’t really afford to buy a lot of fruits or anything else for that matter, and what he could afford was usually pretty close to expiring. These days he didn’t have those issues, but back then it had been a problem. It probably wasn’t a lie to say that Kakashi really opened his eyes and showed him what he was missing out on when it came to everything that the fruit world had to offer. It was only thanks to Kakashi that he got to try new things like kiwis for the very first time. 

“See? If it wasn’t for me, you would probably still be living off of nothing but cup ramen and expired milk.”

“Hey, I know better now! I make sure to check the expiration date of my milk before I drink it!”

“See, the fact that you had to indicate that you know better now seems to heavily imply that once upon a time ago you didn’t know better. I dread to think what helped you finally learn your lesson when it comes to expired food.”

The look that Naruto shot Kakashi made it very clear that he didn’t want to think of that lesson at all. Kakashi just laughed a little at the look that Naruto shot him, and Naruto could not help but crack a smile upon hearing his laugh. Honestly, he couldn’t help but smile at the fact that he was walking home with Kakashi carrying groceries and laughing over stupid things. It was downright domestic when you got right down to it. It was something that all families and couples in the village had done probably plenty of times in their life.

Yet, for Naruto is was one of the very first times that he had ever done such a thing. The chore of grocery shopping was something that most people probably didn’t enjoy, but Naruto loved it. He craved it in fact. The fact that he was getting to have one of these moments with Kakashi of all people made him happy.

_**‘You know this is only temporary. It wo-‘**_ That negative thought in his head started saying before Naruto cut it off. 

_‘Nope, I am not letting my inner negativity ruin this,’_ The blond thought as he took that negative thought and chucked it into the dark corner of his mind where it belonged. 

Chances are his negative thoughts would hit him full force later, but for now he wasn’t going to let those thoughts ruin the moment. Open returning to Kakashi’s apartment Kakashi immediately put away the things that they would use for the party while everything else was set up on his kitchen counter top so that he could make dinner. Naruto stood to the side and watched as Kakashi got out all of the pots and utensils that they would need to make dinner. Once everything was out and ready to go Kakashi looked over at the blue eyed blond and motioned for him to come over.

As Naruto walked up to him Kakashi said “I’m going to teach you how to make clam chowder.” 

“Really?”

“Yes really,” Kakashi said. “If you end up liking it then it would be good to know how to make it so that you can have it again.” 

Naruto nodded, and before he could say a word Kakashi suddenly shoved a potato and a potato peeler into his hands.

“Great! Now help me peal the potatoes for the chowder.” 

They got to work pretty quickly after that. It was actually rather fun to cook beside Kakashi like this. Cooking was a chore that Naruto was pretty decent at, and Kakashi was a surprisingly good cooking teacher. It was almost calming to sit there and cook while chattering with Kakashi about the food or other simple topics. Naruto always felt a small blush stain his cheeks whenever Kakashi’s fingers brushed up against his own when Kakashi was taking something from Naruto or handing something over to him to handle. If Kakashi noticed that Naruto was a little red in the face he didn’t comment on it. It was nice to spend time with Kakashi like this. He didn’t really get to cook with someone like this. Iruka tried to cook with him a few times, but the only thing Naruto ever got out of that was an inevitable trip to Ichiraku ramen and the lesson that Iruka shouldn’t go anywhere near a kitchen. It was nice to be able to do this with someone he cared about. 

The chowder was finished rather quickly, and once they were seated at the table with the food Kakashi looked rather eager to see how Naruto would react to the chowder. Naruto quickly averted his gaze so that Kakashi could finally remove his mask and eat. Naruto stared at his bowl of chowder soup for a moment before he sighed and finally tried a bite. Kakashi seemed to think he would enjoy it, and if Kakashi really believed that then Naruto would trust him. Upon sticking the first spoonful into his mouth Naruto’s eyes widened a little. It was good. It was really good. The warmth of the soup seemed to warm him up to his very core. This would have been a very good dish to eat on a cold winter day.

“Well?” Naruto heard Kakashi say. 

“It’s good,” Naruto said softly. 

“See? I told you that you would like it. Never doubt your sensei.” 

“Hey, I trust your judgment. If I didn’t do you really think I would have even tried a spoonful?”

“I suppose that’s true,” Kakashi said with a chuckle. 

A comfortable silence fell upon them after Kakashi said that. Naruto could just feel his darker thoughts lingering in the back of his head, but he refused to let them haunt him any longer tonight. 

_‘Later,’_ Naruto thought to himself. _‘I’ll worry about it later.’_

He wasn’t going to let those thoughts ruin the night anymore for him nor would he let them haunt him during the party tomorrow. Once the party was over he would let those dark thoughts and he would get to work trying to figure out what to do about his curse. He would work on trying to figure out if he even had a chance with Kakashi after the party. Hell, if he played his cards right and asked the right questions maybe he could even figure out enough about Kakashi’s love life to figure out if he even had a chance with the man. However, until that time arrived he would try to not dwell on the negative. For now, he was willing to just sit back and enjoy the brief moment of peace while it lasted.

“You look like you’re thinking hard again,” Kakashi commented.

“Am I that easy to read?”

“You tend to wear your heart on your sleeve,” Kakashi said. “What’s bothering you?” 

“I…” Naruto said only to slowly come to a stop. 

He couldn’t say what was really on his mind. He had to come up with something fast.

“I was just thinking that once I get better I won’t really be able to try out all of the recipes that you picked up very much.”

“That’s not necessarily true,” Kakashi said quickly.

The fact that Naruto didn’t look up upon hearing that was nothing short of a miracle.

“I would be willing to teach you how to cook everything that I learned every Sunday if you wanted.”

“Do you really mean that?”

“Of course I really mean it,” Kakashi said. “I wouldn’t suggest it if I didn’t want to do it.” 

“You really don’t mind?”

“I really don’t mind,” Kakashi confirmed. “I enjoy your company Naruto.” 

Naruto felt a grin starting to make its way onto his face. He almost felt like wiggling in joy at the thought of being able to cook and eat with Kakashi like this every week. It wasn’t a grand gesture of romance or anything, but knowing that your crush wanted to spend time with you was pretty freaking close.

“So this is a thing now right?” Naruto said just to make sure. “We are totally making this a Sunday thing now?”

“Yes, we are ‘totally’ making this a thing,” Kakashi said.

Naruto didn’t need to look up to know that the man probably rolled his eyes at saying the ‘totally’ word. Although, Kakashi sounded amused when he said it so Naruto knew he wasn’t annoyed.

“You promise?”

“I promise.”

And that was all that Naruto needed to hear. A promise from Kakashi meant that it was going to happen. Naruto smiled as he looked down at his bowl. Things were still pretty gloomy and uncertain, but with that promise things were starting to look at least a tiny bit brighter… 

\--------------------------

 

When Naruto woke up that morning he felt rather energized. Maybe it was because he was that excited for the little party that night, or maybe it was because he was determined to try and be positive that night and not let his dark thoughts haunt him too much that day. Whatever the case was for once he felt like he had the energy that he had been sourly missing since his curse made itself known. It must have been pretty obvious that he was full of energy today because Kakashi immediately commented on it when he walked into the kitchen that morning.

“Good morning,” Kakashi had said as he gave Naruto an eye smile. “You seemed rather bright eyed and bushy tailed today.” 

“I just feel really full of energy today,” Naruto commented as he accepted a plate full of eggs and bacon from Kakashi.

“Maybe that’s a good sign. You have been drained of energy so much lately that it’s nice to see you be your usual energetic self. Maybe it’s a sign that today will be a good day for you.”

“I hope so,” Naruto said as he picked up a piece of bacon and started nibbling on it. 

Breakfast went by pretty fast, and after that Naruto didn’t really know what to do with himself. He was eager for the little party that night, but he didn’t really know what to do with himself till that time came. They had already watched the one Princess Gale movie that he had brought with him. Naruto didn’t really have much of a desire to watch TV at the moment, but he really couldn’t think of what else to do. He just had too much energy to really sit still right now. He didn’t know where all of his energy came from. All he did know was that he really wanted to get it out of his system, but he had no way to do so. He wasn’t allowed to train, and he certainly wasn’t allowed to spar with anyone.

Naruto really didn’t know what to do to deal with all of his energy. Kakashi was clearly aware of Naruto’s energy issue. The man tried to read his book, but Naruto could see that Kakashi paying more attention to Naruto inability to sit still as he tried to pay attention to the TV. This went on for a good hour before Kakashi sighed and gave up on his attempt to read.

“Alright, we need to do something about that energy of yours,” Kakashi said.

“Like what?” Naruto asked. “We can’t train, and we can’t spar. What else is there to do?” 

Kakashi just chuckled as he said “Oh, I have one thing in mind.”

The man then got up and disappeared into his room. A few minutes later Kakashi reemerged with a black bag slung over his shoulder.

“Come on. Get your shoes on. We are going out.”

“Going out to do what?” Naruto asked as he followed the silver haired man to the door. 

Kakashi paused upon hearing that question and looked over at Naruto. Kakashi’s mask crinkled up a bit as the man smiled at him. 

“We are going out to play with the ninken.” 

\-----------------------------------------------

When Kakashi got up that morning he really wasn’t sure what to expect from Naruto. After the checkup yesterday he was unsure of what to expect. After the checkup Naruto had been feeling rather low. It was understandable that Naruto was feeling so down. The news that they had gotten from the checkup had not been good. They had just received a bit of more bad news and absolutely no good news. They were also still stuck at the ‘nothing we can really do about it’ stage. Kakashi had been able to cheer Naruto up by cooking dinner together, but there was no telling how long that cheer would last.

So when Naruto came into the kitchen that morning looking rather happy he was pleasantly surprised. The blue eyed blond stating that he felt full of energy also filled Kakashi with just a bit of hope that maybe today would be okay. Ever since his curse came into effect Naruto had alright days, but those usually came to a screeching stop when his curse sucked his energy out of him. Even during Naruto’s happier moments, the curse was always in the background keeping everyone from being as happy as they could be. Naruto seemed truly happy today though, and it wasn’t a sort of forced joy either. He seemed actually happy. Kakashi really hoped that this was a sign that today would be a good flower free day. 

_‘How depressing is it that I’m hoping that I don’t see any flowers today,’_ Kakashi had thought while eating breakfast. 

He didn’t dwell on that for long. Instead, he tried his best to shove that thought out of his head and just enjoy breakfast. Breakfast had gone by fast and Kakashi was content to just lie around and enjoy the day off Naruto desperately needed to work off his rather boundless energy. Kakashi couldn’t really blame him for being a little restless. He hadn’t really done much these couple of days. Most of the time he had been knocked out by his curse or forced to just sit around all day. The most that he ever did was short walks to the hospital or the Hokage’s Tower. He had been forced to sit on the sidelines while Guy and Kakashi had their little match, and while the match had been cut rather short even short matches with Guy could be consider a good workout. It must have been frustrating to be forced to just sit there and do nothing while everyone else was free to live their typical lives without any issues. Kakashi was honestly surprised that Naruto hadn’t whined about the unfairness of it all. 

_‘Although, he probably knows that in his condition whining won’t change anything.’_

Kakashi mentally sighed as he watched Naruto twitch and wiggle from his spot on the couch. After breakfast he had plopped down on the couch and tried watching TV although it was clear that the television wasn’t holding his interest. He was constantly flipping through the channels without pause while constantly shifting around like he just couldn’t get comfortable. He clearly wanted to do something more active, but wasn’t willing to voice it out loud. After an hour of watching this Kakashi finally figured he should get Naruto out of the house and moving before the boy finally burst from boredom. Luckily, he didn’t have to think hard for something light and easy that Naruto could do. 

_‘It’s been a while since I let the ninken out to just run around and play,’_ Kakashi thought. _‘Maybe playing with the dogs will let him burn off some of that extra energy.’_

Kakashi had been quick to order Naruto to get ready while he went and grabbed his bad full of dog toys and treats. Of course Naruto had been full of questions as to what exactly they were going to do. His confusion only grew when Kakashi said that they were going to play with the ninken.

“Play with the ninken?” Naruto had echoed after Kakashi explained what they were going to do. 

“Like tossing a ball for them to fetch, letting them chase each other, play tug of war with a tug toy. You know typical things that you do when you play with a dog.”

“They actually enjoy that stuff?”

“At the end of the day they are still dogs. They are smarter than your typical dog, but they still enjoy running around and goofing off like any other energetic friendly dog.” Upon saying that Kakashi promptly summoned all of his ninken. 

Upon being summoned the dogs took one look at Kakashi and upon seeing the bag they got excited. They knew what the bag that he was carrying meant. Bull was so excited that he was practically vibrating. Honestly, Kakashi was surprised that Pakkun wasn’t being thrown off of his spot on top of Bull’s head due to the strength of Bull’s joyous wiggling. Bisuke looked as excited as all the other dogs, but upon spotting Naruto from the corner of his eye the small dog started to ignore Kakashi in favor of the blond. 

“Naruto!” The small dog called out as he ran over to the blond. “How are you feeling today?”

“Hey Bisuke,” Naruto said as he knelt down to scratch the dog behind the ear. “I’m feeling pretty good today.” 

The rest of the ninken started ignoring Kakashi in favor of trying to get attention for Naruto. They were gently shoving each other out of the way as they demanded pats and scratches. Of course Naruto gave into their demands without a fight. Naruto tried to give each of the dogs and equal amount of love and attention as he said hello to each of the dogs. Kakashi couldn’t help but stand back and watch the scene with a smile. Kakashi’s ninken were rather fond of Naruto, and it helped that Naruto seemed to really like them. He was one of the few who spoiled them with all of the attention that they could want. With that in mind it honestly wasn’t really a surprise that the dogs started taking a shine to him.

As he watched them interact Kakashi couldn’t help but notice that the dogs were being gentle with Naruto. Probably not surprising. Chances were high that Pakkun and Bisuke had already informed the rest of the pack about Naruto’s condition. They knew better then to be too rough with Naruto. Knowing that if he left them alone the dogs would probably sit there and let Naruto spoil them all day Kakashi finally stepped in to put an end to it. 

“Alright, come on guys. If we want to get going and still have time for you all to play we need to leave now.” 

The dogs finally calmed down and Naruto stood up ready to go.

“Pakkun, do you mind doing me a favor first?” Kakashi asked the small pug.

“Sure, what do you need?” The pug asked. 

“I need you to find Sai and Sakura and give them a message. We are meeting up tonight for a little party, and I need you to tell them where and when it is happening. When you are done you can meet up with us at the usual place.” 

“Got it,” Pakkun said as he jumped down from his perch on Bull’s head. “What exactly do you want me to tell them?”

Kakashi gave Pakkun the message, and once the message was given the pug ran off to do his job. Once he was gone Kakashi started leading the dogs and Naruto to their destination. The walk was a mostly silent affair although it was a comfortable sort of silence. The few people that they passed by while waking only gave them passing glances at most. When one of a village’s main major clans claim to fame was having dogs as partners you sort of had to get used to the sight of ninja running around with a pack of dogs at their heels. When they reached the outskirts of the village and started to reach the areas where the training grounds were located Kakashi veered off the path and started to go into the woods.

“We aren’t going to one of the training grounds?” Naruto asked.

“No, we are going special.” Kakashi answered. 

“Special how?” Naruto asked. 

“I’ll tell you when we get there,” Kakashi said.

Naruto didn’t look overly satisfied by that answer, but he didn’t try to get Kakashi to explain. He just continued to walk beside Kakashi in silence. As they walked Kakashi couldn’t help but notice that today seemed to be one of those rare perfect days. It was warm, but not to the point that it was unbearable. A nice strong breeze kept the heat from being too bad. The bright blue sky was filled with white clouds. If Shikamaru was here he would have declared this perfect cloud watching weather. Out here in the woods they were away from the hustle and bustle of the village. The only thing that could be heard were the rustling of the leaves in the trees, the singing of the birds, and the happy yips and occasional bark from Kakashi’s ninken. For Kakashi he was at his most peaceful when he could walk in the woods like this in peace on a perfect day with his ninken by his side. The day was only made better by the fact that Naruto was walking beside him.

Upon thinking of Naruto Kakashi couldn’t help but look over at his companion. Naruto looked just as peaceful as Kakashi felt. He had a soft smile on his face, and every time one of the dogs got close to Naruto the boy would reach out and give them a quick scratch behind the ear or a pat on the head. The dogs always let out a small yip of thanks or would lick Naruto’s fingers in return as thanks for the small bits of attention. Naruto’s smile would grow a bit brighter each time the dogs did this. The dappled sunlight that was somehow able to make it through the cover of the branches overhead made Naruto’s hair shine like gold, and caused the boy’s bright sky blue eyes to somehow appear brighter than ever. Kakashi wasn’t the type of person to really use the word beautiful very often. Yet, right here and now as he looked at Naruto he couldn’t help but think that the blond was a thing of beauty. Every once in a while Kakashi’s hand would brush up against Naruto’s hand the urge to just grab the boy’s hand would wash over him. Somehow Kakashi was able to resist the urge. After about twenty minutes of walking they finally reached their destination. It was a large clearing in the middle of the woods. A stream was near the edge of the clearing babbling away, and in the center of the clearing was a lone oak tree. The clearing was rather large. Large enough for his eight ninken to run around without any issues. Sitting under the shade of the huge oak tree was Pakkun.

“Took you guys long enough to get here,” The small pug commented as Kakashi’s group approached him.

Kakashi shrugged as he said “Sorry, we decided to take our time and really enjoy the walk here.”

“Where is here anyway?” Naruto asked.

“The Hatake clan grounds,” Pakkun answered before Kakashi could.

Naruto’s jaw dropped upon hearing that. 

“That Hatake what now?” The boy squeaked out. 

“The Hatake clan grounds,” Kakashi said as he dropped his bag down onto the ground next the Pakkun. “My family has owned these woods for about as long as the village has been standing.” 

“I-is it okay for me to be here?” Naruto asked with a slightest bit of hesitation. 

“It is if I say it is,” Kakashi said as he opened the bag and pulled out a squeaky toy that looked like a moose. 

Bull’s eyes lit up upon seeing his favorite squeaky toy, and Kakashi didn’t hesitate to hand the toy over. Upon getting his favorite toy Bull parked himself in the shade of the tree and started chewing gently on it. The clearing was soon filled with the sound of squeaking. Kakashi just watched the large dog with some amusement. Kakashi wasn’t sure how making a squeaking toy squeak for hours on end could be so amusing for the large canine, but if it made Bull happy Kakashi was more than content to let him be. 

“I guess that is true, but… I mean…”

Naruto’s apparent inability to finish his sentence caused Kakashi to look over at the boy. He looked a little flustered as he stared at Kakashi. 

“Other than visiting Shikamaru’s house every once in a while I’ve never been to anyone’s clan grounds before you know?” He suddenly blurted out. 

Kakashi blinked a few times in surprise upon hearing that. “Really?” Kakashi said in surprise. Naruto nodded, but looked away from Kakashi when Bisuke approached Naruto with the rope tug toy in his mouth. Apparently the small dog had pulled the toy out of the bag when Kakashi wasn’t watching. Naruto sat down on the ground and started to play with Bisuke. Neither one of them were using their full strength during their little game of tug of war although that really didn’t matter. Bisuke was having fun trying to get the rope away from Naruto, and Naruto was starting to smile again. Honestly, getting Naruto to smile again was probably the whole reason why Bisuke brought him the rope in the first place. 

As Naruto played with the dog he said “As I said the most I have ever done was go to Shikamaru’s house, but I only ever hang out at his house long enough for a game of shogi. I don’t go wandering around the Nara clan grounds or forest or anything like that.” 

“My clan grounds aren’t anything special. There aren’t any overprotective deer running around the place like what you get over in the Nara forest. Most of the Hatake clan grounds are just made up of forests and a few open fields. There isn’t anything interesting out here.”

As Kakashi pulled a ball out of the bag he heard Naruto say “Nothing at all?”

Kakashi tossed the ball for the dogs to catch as he said “There used to be the Hatake clan house here, but I’m pretty sure that the clan home collapsed a long time ago.” 

At least he was pretty sure his old clan home was long gone by now. The last time he had seen the house was when he was nineteen. He hadn’t gone inside. He couldn’t bring himself to do so. Kakashi had moved out of the building soon after his father died and he refused to ever go back into the building again. While he would never go inside he could at least look at the building although he didn’t like to. Just looking at the place brought up bad memories. The only reason he saw it at all when he was nineteen was because he had to run through the area to get to an ANBU mission. The quick glance that he had taken of his house showed that nature had already claimed the building, and parts of it were already collapsing. Kakashi could only imagine that these days while the building was probably still standing to some extant chances were pretty low that it could ever be truly restored and lived in again. That was probably for the best. If Kakashi ever found himself wanting to live on his clan grounds again he would just build a new house. 

Naruto stared at Kakashi for a few seconds obviously wondering if he should ask about the old clan home, but any questions he probably had seemed to have been forgotten when Bisuke yanked the rope toy out of Naruto’s hand. The smug look the dog gave Naruto at his victory led Naruto to just start up another game of tug of war with the dog. Any questions about the clan home would probably not be asked at this point, but to be safe Kakashi decided to move the conversation along so it wouldn’t linger any at the uncomfortable topic. 

“A few places on the clan grounds have naturally growing herbs that are rather useful for medic-nins, but other than that there is nothing of interest out here. The Hatake clan grounds are so far away from the village buildings and training grounds that people just don’t have a reason to come out here. It’s why I take the dogs here. I know that when we come out here we won’t be disturbed.” 

“Did Blossom ever take advantage of the herbs that grow out here?” Naruto asked. 

“Once I told her about them she defiantly did. I think she ended up spending more time out here then I did with all of her searching for useful plants.”

Kakashi paused for a moment when Guruko raced toward him with the ball in his mouth with all of the other dogs following close behind him. Kakashi took the ball from the hound and threw it as hard as he could. He watched as the dogs chased after it barking and yapping as they tried to get to the ball first.

“Honestly, I should probably tell Sakura about this place. She could probably find a few useful plants out here.” Kakashi paused for a moment before he smiled. “You know now that I think about it I think Blossom and my sensei are the only people that I ever brought out here. You are the first non-Hatake that I have brought out here in what has to be years.” 

“Really?” Naruto said as he finally yanked the rope toy away from Bisuke. 

The blond grinned at the dog in victory, but after enjoying the sweet taste of victory for a few seconds he let Bisuke grab another rope so they could start up a third game of tug and war.

“Yep,” Kakashi confirmed. 

“I’m honored,” Naruto said with a teasing grin.

Bisuke was able to yank the rope toy out of Naruto’s hand and decided to really celebrate his victory by parading around Naruto while waving the toy around in victory. Naruto pouted a little, but he looked rather amused by the dog's antics. 

“You should be very honored,” Kakashi said as he smirked. 

Shiba, the victor of this round of catch, returned with the ball in his mouth while the rest of the dog trailed behind him grumbling over inability to get the ball this time around. Kakashi took the ball from Shiba, but instead of throwing the ball again he tossed it over to Naruto. Naruto caught the ball with ease. The blond looked at the ball for a moment before he stared at Kakashi. Kakashi just smiled at him as he gestured toward the dogs that were gather around him in an effort to send Naruto a single wordless message. 

_Your turn._

The dogs quickly started swarming around Naruto like a group of overexcited children. 

A few of them even started chanting “Throw the ball! Throw the ball!” 

Naruto laughed at the dogs’ enthusiasm as he gently nudged them away so that he could stand up. Once he was standing he tossed the ball as far as he could. The dogs wasted no time in racing off after the thing. Their feet were pounding against the ground as they ran and tried to shove each other out of the way so that they would be the first ones to get the ball. Even Bisuke had cut his victory dance short in order to join in on the chase. 

“They really like catch don’t they?” Naruto commented as he watched them run after the ball.

“They do,” Kakashi confirmed. “But they like playing in general. It’s why I try to bring them out here at least once every other week, or even more then that if I have the time. I summon them so much for work that it’s nice to be able to call them out to just relax and play like this.”

Naruto nodded, but didn’t say anything. They both stood in silence for a moment as they watched the pack play. The only sound that really broke the silence was the constant squeaking from the toy that Bull was still chewing on. 

“Kakashi-sensei?” Naruto finally said after a few minutes had passed by. 

“Yes?”

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For taking care of me. For taking me here to your clan grounds. For letting me join you in playing with your ninken. For not confining me to a bed and keeping me stuck inside all day. For not treating me like fragile glass even though I have this horrible curse.” Naruto blushed a little as he stared down at the ground. “Just thanks for everything I guess.” 

A soft chuckled escaped from Kakashi upon hearing that.

“I don’t think any of those things are something you should be thanking me for. I’m just doing what anyone would do for someone that they care about. Still, you are welcome all the same.”

Naruto didn’t look up at Kakashi after the man had said that, but Kakashi could see a small smile appear on the blonde’s face upon hearing Kakashi say that. Kakashi could not help but smile a little bit too. He was happy that he was able to make Naruto smile like that. It was silent between them for a few seconds before Naruto broke the silence by blurting out something that had been on his mind. 

“You know if you wanted to invite me out like this again to play with your dogs I wouldn’t mind.” 

Kakashi laughed upon hearing that. 

“You wouldn’t, huh?” Kakashi teased. 

A small blush of embarrassment appeared on Naruto’s face, and Kakashi couldn’t help but think Naruto looked rather cute when he was all embarrassed like that. It looked like the boy was thinking of saying never mind, but before Naruto could take back what he said Kakashi started talking.

“Naruto, I would be perfectly happy with having you join us. If anything I think the dogs will be demanding that you come along with us from now on anyway.” 

The bright pleased smile that Naruto gave Kakashi in response to that greatly pleased Kakashi. Naruto eventually looked away when Akino came trotting up to Naruto with the ball in his mouth and holding his head up high in pride. Apparently he had been the victor in getting the ball this time around. Naruto of course showered the dog with praise and attention for bringing the ball back, and judging by how fast Akino’s tail was wagging it was very clear that the dog was pleased with all of the attention. As Kakashi watched Naruto continue to play fetch with the pack Kakashi swore to himself right then and there that this would not be a onetime thing. Naruto would be joining Kakashi and his ninken on a lot more walks and play dates from now on… 

\---------------------------------------------------------

 

Kakashi, Naruto, and the ninken stayed out in the forest pretty much all day. They only went back into town for about an hour to grab a quick lunch, but the second lunch was over they went back into the woods to continue playing with the dogs. By the time that the sun finally started to set and the time for the Team 7 party was about to begin the dogs had been worn out and Naruto’s excess energy had more or less gone away. Although, while Naruto’s energy was back down to normal levels his enthusiasm was through the roof. The second they picked up the supplies from Kakashi’s apartment Naruto had grabbed Kakashi’s hand and practically dragged the man all the way to Team 7’s favorite training ground. When they arrived Sai, Yamato, and Sakura were already there. The campfire had already been created as had the supplies they need to both keep the fire going, and put it out once the party was over.

Sakura smiled upon seeing them approach and said “Wow, you are only ten minutes late. I think that is a record for you sensei.”

Kakashi let out an exaggerated sigh as he said “Well, you see an eager blond fox forced me out of my house and refused to let me relax a bit before coming.” 

Yamato laughed a little upon hearing that, but he quickly smothered his amusement when Kakashi shot him a lazy glare. 

“If that ‘blond fox’ is able to make you show up at a halfway decent time then I don’t think I mind him kicking you out of your house more often,” Sakura said all while adding finger quotes around the words ‘blond fox’.

Naruto rolled his eyes upon hearing that as he placed the bag full of everything that they needed down on the ground. 

“Less talking and more banana boat making,” Naruto said as he started pulling everything that they needed out of the bag.

Kakashi flopped down on the ground while Sakura just smiled as she grabbed a bottle of water that she had by her side and started drinking from it.

Naruto smiled as he said “Time to make the special treat that came straight from ANBU!”

Sakura about choked on her water upon hearing that. Sai awkwardly patted her back in an attempt to help in some way.

When Sakura finally caught her breath she wheezed out “He learned it from where?”

“Maa, I didn’t tell you that I learned how to make it an ANBU?” Kakashi asked innocently.

“No you did not!” Sakura squeaked out. “You aren’t pulling my leg aren't you?” 

“He’s really not,” Yamato said as he accepted a banana from Naruto. “A friend in ANBU showed us how to make them. If fact a friend in ANBU showed me how to make s'mores too. First time I ever had a s’more was with my ANBU team decided to make them together after a training session. Can’t remember how the idea of making them first came up, but Rabbit was convinced that it would do us some good. Something about cooking and eating together helped to strengthen bonds.”

“I’m somewhat convinced that the whole straightening bonds with food thing is just a belief that everyone in the Akimichi clan has,” Kakashi said as he pulled out the bags of chocolate chips and marshmallows.

Sakura just sat there and stared at the two older men for a few seconds before she finally muttered “Oh Kami you guys are serious.”

“Is making sweet treats over a campfire a thing that ANBU regularly do?” Sai asked. 

“Apparently it is,” Naruto heard Sakura mutter under her breath. 

Naruto couldn’t help but let out a little laugh at Sakura’s reaction to all of this. Honestly, he really couldn’t blame her for having trouble processing it. ANBU were known for being ultimate assassins and hunters. They were ninja experts that did the jobs that even most jōnin would have issues with. The idea of a bunch of masked ANBU sitting around a campfire making s’mores or banana boats was downright comical. At least Naruto couldn’t help but mentally laugh whenever he tried to picture it.

“It is when you have an Akimichi on your team,” Kakashi answered. “Anyway, Sai I know Sakura explained what a banana boat is but did she tell you how to make one?”

Sai just shook his head. “No, she just explained what it is. She didn’t have enough time to explain how to make it.”

“Alright,” Kakashi said as he handed the bags of chocolate chips and mini marshmallows over to Sai. “It’s pretty simple to make. You cut open the banana, shove as many marshmallows and chocolate chips as you want, and once you are done with that you wrap the banana up in tinfoil.” 

Naruto finished off the cooking directions for Kakashi by saying “Then you cook it over a fire for about five to maybe ten minutes. Take it off the fire, open it up, and eat the insides with a spoon.”

“It’s quick and easy to make,” Kakashi said with a shrug of his shoulders. “Makes it perfect to have as a little reward when you finish an easy mission and are making your way back home.”

“Which explains why we had it so much when Naruto and I were ‘cute little genin’, right?” Sakura said.

“Pretty much,” Kakashi confirmed.

The man looked over at Naruto, and Naruto just knew that the man was smirking when he said “Of course some of you are still my cute little genin.” 

“Yeah, just rub it in why don’t you,” Naruto grumbled as a small blush reddened his cheeks. 

Naruto knew that Kakashi was just teasing him when he called him cute, but deep down he really hoped that Kakashi actually really thought he was cute. He allowed that thought to slip away from his head as he watched Sai pull a marshmallow out of its bag and stared down at the marshmallow. 

“Have you ever had a marshmallow Sai?” Naruto asked.

Sai just shook his head no. 

“Well, try it! You will never know if you like it if you don’t try it!” Sakura encouraged him. 

Sai popped the sweet treat into his mouth only to frown a little soon after.

“I don’t like it,” Sai said.

“That’s fine,” Kakashi said. “The good thing about banana boats is that you can add as much or as little to it as you want.”

“Heck, if you really wanted to you can just shove as many chocolate chips as you possibly can into the thing and skip the marshmallows altogether if you really want.” Naruto said. 

Sai apparently decided to take that as the go ahead because he pretty much took the chocolate chip bag and dumped almost half the contents of it into his banana boat.

“Hey, leave some for the rest of us!” Sakura shouted as she yanked the bag out of Sai’s hands.

As everyone started making their banana boats Naruto could not help but think that it was actually sort of interesting to see how everyone preferred to make their banana boat. Sai used chocolate chips and only chocolate chips. Yamato used a rather extremely large amount of marshmallows. Sakura and Naruto used about an even amount of chocolate and marshmallows although Naruto used a bit more chocolate chips. Kakashi barely used any chocolate chips or marshmallows to the point that he wasn’t really eating a banana boat so much as he was eating a cooked banana although Naruto wasn’t surprised by that. Kakashi really didn’t like sweet things. 

When the banana boats were ready to eat Sakura and Naruto were at the edge of their seat as they waited for Sai’s reaction to that campfire treat. He took a bite out of the treat, and showed no real reaction that let them know if he liked it or not. 

Sai pulled the spoon out of his mouth and simply said “It’s good.” 

“Alright!” Naruto cheered. “Congrats Sai and Yamato! You are now officially members of Team 7!” 

“Not the worst way I have been inducted into a team,” Yamato commented as he smiled.

“It’s a lot nicer than the only one I have ever been a part of,” Sai commented.

Naruto didn’t even think of asking for details when they both said that. What little he knew about Sai and Yamato’s past was enough for Naruto to know that there were some things in life that he was probably better off not knowing. 

Yamato took another bite of his banana boat before he asked “So other than the Hiruko fiasco and the curse thing have I missed much while I was away?” 

“Not really,” Sakura said. “I learned more about myths and flower symbolism in just a few days though so that’s something I guess.” 

“I learned that our library has a surprisingly low number of books that talk about curse jutsu, and what we do have has all been checked out by Jiraiya,” Sai commented.

Naruto couldn’t help but feel a bit guilty at the fact that his friends were spending all of their time on him and going through so much effort to help him. His curse was almost all consuming in a way. It took all of his friends’ attention from their own lives and made them worry and search desperately for a cure or at least some answers. 

_‘And here I am doing nothing but mentally freaking out about my crush,’_ Naruto thought. 

Naruto quickly finished his food. Once he was done he chucked his garbage into the empty bag that they had brought their supplies in as he said “I learned that just trying to say who I am in love with to my friends is enough to make me have a flower attack.” 

Yamato looked like he was regretting even asking his question now. 

“Sorry,” The brown haired man said softly. “I should have thought that question through a bit more before asking it.” 

Naruto just shook his head.

“It’s alright,” Naruto said as he stared down at the ground. “I just…” 

Naruto paused for a moment as he stared down at the fire. Kakashi slid over so that he was sitting closer to Naruto as if to let the blond know that he was there for him. Naruto was grateful for the gesture. It made him brave enough to say what he was thinking 

“I want to have just one night where I don’t have to think of my romance life or my curse you know?” 

His team gave him looks that were a mix of sympathy and awkwardness upon hearing Naruto say that. They could understand why he didn’t want to touch that subject with a ten-foot pole, but at the same time it was sort of hard not to think about it when his curse was tied so deeply to the subject of love. Ignoring the looks Naruto decided to put his tentative plan in motion. This was the perfect moment to try and figure out if he even had a chance with Kakashi, and no force on earth was going to let him miss this chance. 

Naruto smiled a little as he said “We could always talk about someone else’s love life for once. Like let’s talk about Kakashi’s love life for example.”

Kakashi froze upon hearing that. 

“What?” The man sputtered out as his empty banana boat peel fell out of his hand and onto the ground.

Sakura was grinning now as she looked at Kakashi. She was all too eager take Naruto’s subject suggestion and just go to town with it.

“Yeah, that is a topic I can get behind! Sensei what sort of people are you interested in? Do you like women with long hair? Short hair? Red heads? Brown eyes?”

Kakashi just stared at Sakura for a few seconds as his whole face seemed to turn red with embarrassment before he looked at Yamato as if he were asking the man for help. 

Yamato apparently wasn’t in much of a helping mood because he just smiled as he said “Well senpai? What sort of preferences do you have?” 

The glare that Kakashi shot him was downright glacial, but the icier Kakashi’s glare got the more serene Yamato’s smile got. Naruto couldn’t believe it, but he was pretty sure Yamato was probably one of the very few people in this world could withstand one of Kakashi’s rather scary looking glares.

Kakashi sighed as he asked “Why are you guys so interested in my preferences anyway?”

“We are interested because we know absolutely jack about your love life, and you probably know everything about ours,” Was Sakura’s rather blunt answer.

“My book said that friends often talk about their heartaches and crushes with each other,” Sai added on. 

Naruto almost felt like saying that most of his friends rarely ever brought up their crushes with Lee, Ino, and Sakura probably being the exceptions but he didn’t dare say that out loud. He didn’t want to say anything that could screw this up. He needed answers. He need to know if he had a chance. Besides after steering the talk into the romance subject in general Naruto didn’t feel like he had much room to talk.

Yamato was just sitting back and watching the whole spectacle with a smile on his face. He was clearly enjoying watching Kakashi squirm in embarrassment. Kakashi sighed as he looked at them all. He was clearly figuring out that there was no escaping from this subject, so he might as well give in and give them the answers that they want.

“I don’t really have any preferences per-say. I can appreciate a beautiful or handsome person for sure, but physical beauty is only half of the equation for me. A person’s personality is usually what draws me in while their physical beauty is just a bonus.” 

“A person?” Naruto said out loud. 

Everyone looked at him when he said that, and while a bit embarrassing Naruto didn’t stop his line of questioning. 

“You said a person,” Naruto said slowly. “Not a woman, but a person.”

“Oh, I swing both ways.” Kakashi shrugged. “Men or women. I like both.” 

He dropped that info so easily that Naruto almost felt like kicking himself for not asking this question earlier. If he would have known that Kakashi was interested in men just as much as he was interested in women from the beginning it would have saved him a few days of stressing out over the idea of if Kakashi could even be romantically interested in a man. Sakura blinked a few times upon that revelation, but ultimately shrugged it off and mentally filed it under ‘things I now know about Kakashi’. Sai and Yamato didn’t have much of a reaction to that bit of news either.

Seeing that no one seemed to have an overly strong reaction to that bit of news Kakashi continued by saying “I guess if I had to come up with some sort of physical feature that I enjoy I have to say I always liked blue eyes.” 

That did it. That was the thing that caused Naruto to mentally check out of the moment and get lost in his own head.

Kakashi had taken that moment to take the attention off himself by saying “Since we are talking about romance why don’t we discuss Yamato’s crush on Shizune?” 

“Senpai!” Yamato yelled out as he went as red as a tomato.

“You have a crush on Shizune?!” Sakura yelled out in glee.

Oh, Sakura was so going to be telling Ino about this the next time she saw her.

“I, uh, well…” Yamato sputtered out clearly unable to really say anything. 

“Having problems Yamato?” Kakashi asked innocently. 

Yamato glared at Kakashi, but he wasn’t able to do that for long. Sakura was peppering him with questions so he couldn’t glare at the Hatake man for long. As they all bugged Yamato about his crush no one noticed that Naruto was staring at the fire not saying anything. Two spate parts of Naruto were fighting it out with each other, and Naruto was too mentally lost in his own inner war to notice Yamato’s struggle. The ever hopeful part of Naruto was screeching in joy. 

_‘You have a chance!’_ That small piece of hope inside him screamed out. _‘Kakashi likes men, and he really likes blue eyes! You have a chance!’_

The more negative part of Naruto was screaming out just as loudly.

_**‘Why would he like you?’** _ It asked. _**‘So what if you have blue eyes? What is so great about you personally?’** _

That negative part of himself didn’t hesitate to kick any sort of hope that Naruto had into the dirt. _**‘You are loud, you are annoying, you aren’t smart at all, you got a giant fox monster sealed up in you that causes you to lose it when you lose control. What could he possibly see in a person like you?’**_

Naruto trembled a little at that thought. He felt like the air was leaving his lungs. His chest hurt and that tickling feeling of petals in his throat made its presence known. An attack was coming. 

_‘No, no, no, no!’_ Naruto shouted in his head. _‘Not here! Not now!’_

His mental pleas did nothing to stop the attack. A cough escaped from his and the cheerful chatter that had filled the air instantly vanished. 

“Naruto?”

Naruto wasn’t sure who called his name. He couldn’t really focus on it at all. He was too lost in the fact that the small ache in his chest was turning into a burning pain. He was too lost in the fact that no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t take in a single breath. It felt like he was choking on flowers as they forced their way out of his mouth. His coughing fits usually hurt a little, but that was usually due to how hard his actual coughing was. Never before did it hurt this badly. Never before had it been impossible to draw in even the slightest bit of air. Flowers with bright vivid blue petals tumbled out of his mouth in waves, but they were not the only thing that Naruto coughed up. Naruto could feel something warm and wet hitting his hands along with the tidal wave of flowers. He could see bright red wet splotches staining the petals of the flowers that forced their way out of his mouth.

“He’s coughing up blood!” He heard Sakura yell. 

Naruto was barely able to register what she was saying. All he knew was that everything hurt. It felt like his lungs were filled to the brim with flower petals. It felt like his throat and mouth were stuffed to the brim with petals, flowers, and blood. The only thing that he was even able to pay attention to outside of his own pain was Kakashi’s face. The man was there by his side staring at him with a look of complete devastation. The man looked like he was watching the village itself crumble to dust in front of him. Without thinking Naruto reached out and grabbed a hold of the man’s arm. 

Between the blood and the flowers Naruto was able to gasp out “Please…” 

The flowers, blood, and pure fear made it hard for Naruto to say much more. It didn’t help that there was so much that Naruto wanted to say. 

_Please help me._

_Please take the pain away._

_Please make it stop._

None of those things Kakashi could do, and deep down Naruto knew it. So when the flowers and the blood finally started to slow down he asked for the only thing that he knew for sure that Kakashi could do. 

“Please don’t leave me.”

Without even meaning to he fell forward right into Kakashi’s arms.

“Naruto!”

 _‘I’m sorry,’_ Naruto thought when he heard Kakashi yell out his name, but he couldn’t say the words out loud. All he could do was close his eyes and fall into oblivion…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bachelor’s Button (also known as cornflowers): These flowers symbolize protection, healing, purity of feelings, single blessedness
> 
> However, besides symbolizing these things Bachelor's Buttons have a legend/belief tied to them...
> 
> Bachelors generally wore this flower when they had feelings for a certain person that they were trying to date. They would wear the flower and the longer that the flower lasted, the more that it showed that there was a true love there, if the flower faded away, it wasn’t meant to be.
> 
>  
> 
> This legend is actually going to be a little important to the story in later chapters...
> 
> Anyway, I was going to end the chapter after the bit with the ninken, but I ended up thinking 'Eh, I can make this chapter longer. It will be fine.'


	14. Zinnia flower

Even before he got his Sharingan Kakashi always had a bit of a photographic memory. Granted, he still forgot a few things that he didn’t witness with his Sharingan. Only moments seen by the Sharingan could truly survive the test of time. With that said Kakashi usually had an easy time recalling the notable moments of his life with ease. No matter how many years that passed if a moment in his life left a strong enough impression he would always be able to remember it right down to the smallest detail. This was both a blessing and a curse. He could remember his happiest moments with perfect clarity. He remembered meeting Minato-sensei for the first time. The man’s smile was full of kindness, and his promise of teaching Kakashi everything he knew had caught the interest of a young child who wanted to be the very best ninja that he could be. 

_If you promise to work hard Kakashi-kun I will promise to help you become the very best ninja that Konoha has ever seen._

Even now Kakashi could hear his sensei’s voice as the man promised to help Kakashi be the best that he could be. Kakashi could remember meeting Rin and Obito for the first time. Obito had been loud and energetic. His eyes filled with determination as he loudly proclaimed his desire to become Hokage. Meanwhile, Rin was his opposite. She was soft and gentle. She was always willing to sit and listen if you wanted to talk about your troubles. He could remember meeting his ninken for the first time with perfect clarity. Their enthusiasm on meeting their new master had been carved into his memory. He could also remember meeting his Team 7 genin for the first time. They had been so achingly similar to his old team, and at the same time drastically different. Their meeting had been a little rough, but it was a fond memory for Kakashi. 

However, for all the of the notable good moments in his life that he could remember so clearly there were many awful moments in his life that he could remember with perfect clarity. He remembered finding his father’s dead body in his childhood home. He could remember the metallic smell of blood that lingered in the air. He remembered how the lightning lit up the room allowing him to see his father’s cold dead body curled up on floor. He could remember the moment Obito had been crushed by a boulder. Even after all these years he could still hear Obito’s week voice as the boy offered up his Sharingan to Kakashi. He could still hear Rin’s cries of despair when they all realized that there was no saving Obito.

Rin’s death was also permanently embedded into his memory although he had the Sharingan to thank for the fact rather than his naturally good memory. The memory of her death haunted him to the point that just thinking about it for a few seconds was enough to shake him to his core. He didn't have nightmares about her death as much as he did back when he was younger, but whenever he did have that nightmare he would always wake up feeling like her blood was still on his hands. He would end up usually having to take an hour long shower just to wash that feeling away, and even with the shower he could never truly forget how it felt to be covered in the blood of his dearest friend.

Besides Rin's death he also remembered the night that the fox had attacked the village with perfect clarity, and he remembered how helpless he felt over the fact that he couldn’t do anything to help protect the village or stop the fox. He remembered seeing his sensei’s body once the dust had settled and being stuck with the fact that he was now the only survivor of Team Minato. There were so many bad memories locked away in his head, and now he had a new bad memory to add to his morbid collection. Now he had the memory of seeing the person he loved most coughing up blood and flowers in front of him permanently embed into his mind. He had the memory of Naruto’s terrified blue eyes staring into his as the blood and petals poured out of his mouth in a never ending stream. When he closed his eyes he could just hear Naruto’s raspy voice call out to him as the blond clung to his arm. 

_Please don’t leave me._

Kakashi shivered at the memory. He just knew that the memory of seeing Naruto choking on blood and flowers would be staring in his nightmares for the rest of his life right alongside the deaths of every single person that he had ever cared about. Of course the difference here was that Naruto wasn’t dead.

 _ **‘Although, who is to say that he won’t be joining everyone that you love in the great beyond?’**_ The dark voice in Kakashi’s head asked.

Kakashi scowled at that thought, but as he sat there and stared at Naruto it was hard to ignore how deathly still he was. It was hard to look at the boy and not notice how sickly he looked. He looked like he was halfway to death’s door already. Every breath he took in was a harsh sounding in a way that made it seem like it was hard for Naruto to breathe. It was agonizing to sit there and see how much this curse had destroyed the blond. Yet, for as painful as it was to see Kakashi didn’t dare leave Naruto’s side. When he had taken Naruto to the hospital he almost felt a sense of panic when Naruto was taken out of his arms and whisked away from him. He was loath to let the boy out of his sight. Naruto had used up what little energy he had to beg Kakashi to stay with him, and Kakashi didn’t want Naruto to wake up and think Kakashi abandoned him. It didn’t help that having Naruto out of his sight made him feel nervous in general.

Still, much as he hated to admit it there wasn’t much Kakashi could do. He was no medic-nin. He couldn’t preform any medical tests or procedures on Naruto. All he could do was stand back and let them do their jobs. Honestly, he was grateful that Sakura was able to go with Naruto to help treat him. While Naruto was being treated he paced around the waiting room like a wild animal that was only seconds away from snapping. Sai had just sat on a bench nearby looking somehow even paler then usual. He was wide eyed and worried in a way that Kakashi had never seen before although Kakashi couldn’t bring himself to marvel over the rather strong expression that his usually expressionless teammate wore.

Yamato silently sat beside Sai and watched Kakashi pace about with a sad look on his face. The other people in the waiting room gave the small group a wide berth. It was almost like they were afraid to get close to the pacing Kakashi. That suited Kakashi just fine. After what felt like hours Sakura and a medic-nin informed them that they were going over the test results and that Naruto was now resting in his own personal hospital room. At first the medic-nin that worked at the hospital had been reluctant to let anyone into Naruto’s room. However, not being in Naruto’s room was unacceptable. Kakashi had to be there with Naruto. Naruto needed him. If he had to Kakashi was more than willing to chuck all of his pride right out the window and beg to be allowed into Naruto’s room.

Luckily, Sakura was there to save his pride by saying “Let Kakashi-sensei stay with him for the night. Tsunade-sensei won’t mind.” 

No one was willing to argue against Tsunade’s student so they let Kakashi into Naruto’s room. Kakashi decided right then and there that he owed Sakura a lifetime supply of anmitsu for vouching for him like that. Upon entering the room, he vaguely remembered Sakura saying that Tsunade was coming to the hospital to go over Naruto’s results herself, but he couldn’t really bring himself to pay much attention to that. The only thing that mattered right now was the blond lying on the bed in the dark lonely room. Once Kakashi was seated by Naruto’s bedside and holding the blue eyed boy’s hand Sakura had left them alone. He had no idea where she went. He had no idea what Sai or Yamato were doing right now. None of that mattered. Right now the only thing that mattered was Naruto. 

Kakashi sighed as he squeezed Naruto’s hand. He desperately wished Naruto would return the gesture. He wished Naruto would open his eyes and smile at him. He wished he could do something to help take away a bit of Naruto’s pain and make it easier for him to breathe. It was rare for Kakashi to ever feel powerless, but right here and now he felt worthless. There was nothing that he could do to ease Naruto’s pain. All he could do was sit there and wait for Naruto to wake up on his own. Kakashi sighed yet again as he shook his head. Sitting there and drowning in his own sorrows wasn’t going to accomplish anything. If he was going to be stuck there for a while he might as well do something to keep himself busy. With his free hand he flipped open the weapon pouch where he kept his books stored away intending to grab one of his books to read only to pause when something fell from his pouch onto the floor. He picked the object up only to freeze a bit when he saw that it was a flower. One of the flowers that Naruto had coughed up in fact. 

_‘I forgot I picked this thing up,’_ Kakashi thought grimly as he held the flower up to his face. 

He hadn’t even meant to grab it. He had just ended up scooping it up along with Naruto when he picked the boy up to rush him to the hospital. When they had taken Naruto out of his arms he had been left with that single blue flower in hand. He had barely looked at the thing then. Hell, he had barely looked at any of the flowers when they were coming out of Naruto’s mouth. He had been a bit too preoccupied listening to Naruto’s gasped out pleas and watching the blood drip down Naruto’s chin to really pay much attention to the flowers themselves. When he noticed that he was holding the floor he had just absentmindedly shoved it into his weapon pouch and promptly forgot about it in favor of worrying over Naruto. However, now that he had nothing but time on his hands he couldn’t help but truly study the small flower. 

Thankfully, the flower had not been painted red with blood like most of the flowers that Naruto had coughed up had been. This flower was a bright vivid blue color that were the exact same shade of blue as Naruto’s eyes. It was small blossom, but a beautiful one. Its petals were a rather unique shape as well. If Kakashi had seen the flower out in the wild he would have admired the color and think of how it reminded him of Naruto, but ultimately he would have moved on and not thought much more about it.

Yet, as he stared at the flower he couldn’t help but think it looked very familiar for some reason. The more he stared at the flower the more some distant bells of recognition started ringing in his head although for the life of him he couldn’t remember why. For once his rather good memory was failing him. He had seen this flower during a significant moment in his life before he was sure of it, but apparently that moment hadn’t had any strong enough emotions tied to it to cause it to truly stick in his memories like his happiest and worst moments in his life had. 

_‘Was this one of those flowers that Rin rambled on about?’_ Kakashi thought. 

It was possible. Rin had a habit of pointing out useful plants that they could while out on a mission. Sometimes she did that so she could rope him into helping her pick plants that they could use on missions during their downtime, but a lot of times she just talked about them to talk about them. He listened to some of it, but when Rin got real deep into the medical talk a lot of it just went through one ear and out the other. He would listen because it made her happy to talk about it, but Kakashi really didn’t have much of an interest in it. There were a lot of things he wanted to kick his younger self for not doing, and not paying more attention to Rin’s plant talks was quickly making its way onto that list. The more he stared at the flower the more he was sure he should recognize it. The name of the flower was on the tip of his tongue, and yet it wasn’t coming to him. Staring at the flower was doing nothing to help matters. All he could think about was the fact that the flower was the same shade of blue as Naruto’s eyes.

 _‘The same blue as Minato’s eyes,’_ A voice whispered in his head. 

He frowned at the sudden thought. Where had it come from? Minato had been the furthest thing from his mind at the moment, and yet the longer he stared at the flower the more his old teacher’s name popped into his head. Did the flower have some connection to Minato maybe? Honestly, that was an odd thought all on its own. His teacher had never cared much for flowers. He liked them about as much as most other people did. He thought they were pretty, but didn’t think much beyond that. Kushina had been the same way. She liked flowers enough to enjoy receiving them as a gift, but she sure as hell couldn’t tell you anything useful or interesting about them. Neither she nor Minato had much interest in plants.

Heck, thinking back on it Kakashi remembered that Kushina was actually infamous for her lack of a green thumb. Her few attempts at caring for a houseplant always ended in disaster. Naruto knew much more about plants then either of his parents did. Caring for plants was always Naruto’s hobby. Heck, the Mr. Ukki plant Kakashi had in his apartment had been a gift from Naruto. Plants were always Naruto’s thing, so to think that Minato would have any special connection to a specific flower was ridicules. Yet, Kakashi couldn’t shake this nagging feeling that there was something special about this specific flower. Something that made this flower stick out from all of the other flowers that Naruto coughed up. Something that made him think of Minato for some freaking reason. It was aggravating really to have something screaming in his head that he was forgetting something important and yet no matter how hard he thought about it he just couldn’t remember why it was important or why it made him think of Minato of all people.

“You would think I am silly for getting so worked up over a flower of all things,” Kakashi murmured to the blond.

 _‘Then again maybe he wouldn’t think I’m silly for worrying about it,’_ Kakashi thought. _‘We have been worrying over what each flower that Naruto coughs up symbolizes ever since Ino brought it up.’_

Now that he thought about it he had to wonder just what that he was holding could mean. 

_‘It can’t symbolize anything negative,’_ He thought. 

Anything that made him think of Naruto’s sky blue eyes had to have a few good meanings attached to them. Maybe it was silly to just assume that something had good meaning just because it made him think of Naruto, but he really couldn’t shake the feeling that he wasn’t wrong for thinking that. Although, in the end the only way to know for sure would be to ask Ino the next time he saw the girl. He sighed as he tried to push any thoughts out of his head, but it was a futile effort. His mind refused to leave the subject. On top of his worry over Naruto his mind kept ringing the bells of familiarity.

 _‘This is important!’_ Some subconscious part of him yelled out. _‘Just remember already!’_

Yet, no amount of thinking about it came to mind. He couldn’t really focus on the subject completely anyway. He was too busy staring at Naruto hoping that the boy would wake up. He was up half the night worrying over the blue eyed boy and being frustrated by a blue flower. Eventually exhaustion caused the man to slump against the bed and allow himself to be dragged off to the land of dreams. Yet, even as he drifted off to sleep he still kept his tight grip on Naruto’s hand, and he kept just as tight a grip on the strange blue flower…

\----------------------------

“Sensei is late.”

The sound of Rin’s voice was what caused Kakashi to open his eyes. At first everything was fuzzy, but within a matter of seconds everything just snapped into place and he could see everything clearly. Rin was there sitting in front of him. ‘Rin!’ He wanted to shout out, but the words didn’t leave his lips. Instead a small hum of agreement escaped from his mouth and nothing more. He tried to move his hands or get closer to Rin, but his body refused to follow his orders. Instead he was forced to look down and focus on the task of sharpening a few kunai that were laid out in front of him.

 _‘A dream,’_ Kakashi thought with a mental sigh. _‘Just a dream.’_

This was how all of his nightmares usually played out. He would never be in control of his actions. Instead he was always forced to sit there and watch the most tragic moments of his life play out over and over again. He was unable to do anything or say anything. He was always trapped in his body unable to do anything. All he could do was watch his younger self make the same mistakes over and over again and watch as those mistakes caused him to lose everything he cared about. He was sure at least part of the reason why he never forgot his worst moments in life was due to the fact his worst moments in life were what a majority of his nightmares consisted of. However, that usually only applied to his nightmares and this didn’t seem like a nightmare. His nightmares usually cut right to the chase and started right when everything went bad. His dreams began with Rin throwing herself in front of Kakashi's attack and being stabbed by his Chidori. When he dreamed of the fox attack it always started with him staring down at the corpses of Minato and Kushina at the hospital morgue.

His nightmares never slowly transitioned into the dark stuff. It just chucked him right into the worst moments of his life and forced him to be able to do nothing but watch. Like all of his nightmares he was not in control here, but unlike all of his nightmares nothing bad was happening here. It was just Rin sitting there in front of him alive and well on a warm sunny day. They were both sitting there in a training field that was covered with in blooming flowers. Blooming flowers that Kakashi recognized instantly. The training field was covered in the blue flowers that had been confusing him for a good couple of hours now. The fact that he had no control right now was really throwing him for a loop. He usually had control during normal dreams, and he never had control when he was having a nightmare. 

_‘So what will this dream end up being? A dream, or a nightmare that starts out nice and then goes to hell before I can even blink.’_ Kakashi could not help but think. 

He was snapped out of his internal thoughts when he heard Rin sigh which was quickly followed up by a sigh coming from Kakashi’s younger self.

“Sensei will probably be here soon. Just find something to do in the meantime. There aren’t any plants here that you can pick and use in medicine or something?” The dream Kakashi asked. 

“No, the only thing here are Bachelor’s Buttons. They are pretty flowers and they have a cute legend connected to them, but they don’t have any real medical uses.” Rin answered. 

“Legend?” His younger self asked.

A small blush appeared on Rin’s face as she smiled. “They say that if a bachelor is in love they should wear the flower, or at least keep it somewhere on their person. The longer that the flower lasts, the more that it shows that there is true love there, if the flower fades away, it wasn’t meant to be.” 

A disbelieving snort escaped from the dream Kakashi. 

“Sounds stupid,” He said.

“I don’t know I think it is sort of romantic,” Rin murmured. 

The real Kakashi wasn’t sure how to react to any of that. Was that why the flower was so familiar to him? Was it really because somewhere buried deep in his head was this memory of Rin talking about a legend connected to the flower? It was possible. They say dreams are a way for the subconscious to send messages. Maybe this was what this nagging feeling was trying to make him remember. It seemed right, and yet deep down he felt like he hadn’t seen everything yet. There had to be more to this memory. That train of thought quickly went off the rails when he heard a familiar voice call out to them. 

“Hey, sorry I’m late!”

Kakashi’s heart ached when he saw Obito running up to them. His familiar grin was as bright and cheerful like it usually was, and his favorite orange goggles were in place as always. It hurt to see him, and it hurt even worse to hear his familiar excuses escape from his mouth. “Sorry I’m late! I had to help this old man get his cat out of a tree.”

Rin let out a fond sigh upon hearing Obito’s excuse while dream Kakashi didn’t react at all. The real Kakashi's heart just ached at hearing his old teammate's excuse. It was bittersweet to hear his old teammate's excuses as to why he was late. 

Obito’s grin faded a bit as he asked “Where’s sensei?” Rin looked like she was about to reply, but before she should say a word dream Kakashi had packed his things away and stood up. As dream Kakashi started to walk away Obito called out “Bakashi where are you going?!”

“To sensei’s house,” Dream Kakashi answered. “If you were able to get here before sensei that most mean something is seriously wrong.”

It was a testament to Obito’s chronic lateness that the boy didn’t even bother to argue against that. 

Instead, he just ran to catch up with dream Kakashi as he yelled out “I’m coming too!”

“Me too!” Rin said as she followed after them. “I’m worried about sensei. He’s never late.” 

Dream Kakashi didn’t even bother to say anything to his team. He just walked along the path that would take him to Minato-sensei’s house. The walk to the house was a tense and silent affair. They were all worried about Minato which only made sense. Minato made it a point to always be on time to their training sessions. He was never late, so him being late at all was a serious cause for concern. No one could blame Team Minato for being on edge at their teacher's absence. When the group got to Minato's home they all stoped for a second to just stare at the house. For a moment Kakashi briefly had to wonder if they were hesitating to move forward due to being worried or something, but honestly that thought left his mind in favor of looking at the house that had once been like a second home to Kakashi. Seeing Minato-sensei’s house come into view brought a bit of pain to Kakashi. Kakashi had a few fond memories of the place. He stayed with Minato for a while after his father's death and even once he got a new home for himself Kakashi tended to still spend the night there rather often. 

Even when he wasn't spending the night there Minato and Kushina tended to drag Kakashi over to their house to eat dinner with them. Minato often worried over if Kakashi was eating enough and that worry caused his sensei to invite him over to eat often just to make sure that the silver haired boy actually ate real food. Kakashi was a bit ashamed to say that Minato's worry was not unfounded. After Rin's death there was a long time where Kakashi didn't really take good care of himself. If it wasn't for Minato and Kushina making sure he ate real food every once in a while Kakashi was sure that he would have tried to survive mostly off of solider food pills and ration bars. While looking at his teacher's home brought up a few good memories looking at it in his dreams also reminded him that the home no longer existed.

Minato’s house had been destroyed during the Nine Tails attack on the village. Everything in the house had been destroyed as well. Everything that Minato had collected over the years was obliterated in just one night. Every research project he was working on, every souvenir that he had gotten during his trips to other lands, and every gift that he had ever received in his life was gone just like that. Only a few photographs had survived and Kakashi had been quick lock those away in a cabinet somewhere in his apartment never to see the light of day again. It still hurt too much to look at them. Kakashi's thoughts about his teacher's home fell to the wayside when Team Minato finally started to open the front door. The door to Minato’s house had been opened easily enough. Minato had given a key to his place to Kakashi soon after he had become Kakashi’s sensei, so they had been able to unlock the door with no issues. 

Upon stepping inside the house Rin called out “Minato-sensei? Are you there?” 

There was no reply, but while they didn’t hear any vocal reply they could hear the faint sounds of coughing. Team Minato moved down the hall together toward the source of the noise. Eventually they reached the kitchen and found Minato there although Minato seemed unaware of the fact that his students had walked into the room. He was too busy coughing to pay any attention to the children in the room. Minato was hunched over the sink his shoulders shaking from the force of each wet cough that escaped from his mouth. The sink was running although it did little to cover up the sound of Minato’s coughing. A few Bachelor’s Button flowers were lying on the ground by Minato’s feet. There were only three flowers there so it wasn’t a lot, but the fact that they were there at all was strange.

“Sensei?” Obito called out softly. 

Minato tenses a little upon hearing his student’s voice, but within a matter of seconds the man relaxes and straightens up. He turns to look at his students and Kakashi doesn’t miss how sick he looks. He’s a sickly pale color and he has deep bags under his eyes. He looked like he hadn't slept for a few days.

“Sensei you look awful,” Obito says rather bluntly. 

“I’m sorry,” Minato says as he smiles a frail brittle smile. “I’ve been coming down with something as of late, and it looks like my illness finally chose today to hit me with all of its strength.”

Rin is in medic mode in a matter of seconds after hearing that. She’s by Minato’s side before anyone can even blink carefully pulling him away from the sink.

“You should have said you were coming down with something the second you started feeling sick sensei,” Rin scolded him. “If you are sick you need rest! You shouldn’t be trying to force yourself to train. Come on we are putting you back to bed.”

“But,” Minato says only to have Rin cut him off. 

“No arguing sensei. You need to take some medicine and get some sleep if you want to get better. I’ll make you some tea to help you relax and sleep better.”

“Don’t worry sensei we’ll take care of you today and help you get better,” Obito promises as he follows them out of the room.

Minato sighs a little upon hearing that, but he doesn’t bother arguing with them. He knows better than to argue with Rin when she was in doctor mode. Instead he just smiles fondly at his two students as they lead him to his bedroom. Dream Kakashi watches them go, and once they are out of sight he approaches the sink to turn the water off. When he reaches the sink he could see a few Bachelor’s Button petals slowly being washed down the drain, but there was something that Kakashi noticed that his younger dream self hadn’t. Sticking to the sides of the sink were a few petals that that water hadn’t grabbed a hold of yet. The petals were mostly blue, but a few of them had a few bright red dots staining them. His younger child self may not have realized what they were, but looking at it now as an adult Kakashi recognized those red spots immediately. It was hard not to recognize it due to the fact that he had already seen those blue petals stained red due to Naruto's own coughing fit. Those crimson colored dots were blood. Blood that his sensei had coughed up along with the flowers….

\---------------------------------

Kakashi snapped awake and sat up so fast one would think someone had just shocked him awake with his own lightning blade jutsu. In a way he had been shocked awake, and the shock was just as painful as being hit by a lighting jutsu. He sat there staring out the window as the light of a new day slowly started to fill the room. Kakashi squeezed Naruto’s hand and tightened his grip on the Bachelor’s Button that he had in his other hand. Much as he wanted to write the dream off as nothing more than a dream he knew better then to think that. That dream was a memory from ages long past, and seeing it had helped to make everything so painfully clear to Kakashi now. He now understood what his mind had been trying to tell him the second he laid eyes on the blue flower. This curse that was affecting Naruto was not something that had been casted on him specifically. It wasn’t a spiteful farewell gift given to him by Hiruko. It wasn’t a side effect caused by being a jinchūriki. No, this curse had been inherited. 

Naruto had inherited his curse from Minato Namikaze….

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Zinnia flower – Zinnia flowers can be used to symbolize thoughts of absent friends, lasting friendship, goodness, remembrance, and endurance. 
> 
> I had the idea of Kakashi remembering that moment with Minato since day one. It's one of the few scenes that I had stuck in my head the second I came up with the idea for this story. Anyway, I'll be elaborating a bit more on Kakashi's past memories in the next chapter.


	15. White Petunia

_‘I need to tell Jiraiya and Tsunade.’_

That was the one and only thought that went through his head once the origin of Naruto’s curse became clear to him. He didn’t know if telling them would help much, but they needed to know. Kakashi hoped that maybe if Jiraiya learned that Minato was the source of the curse he might remember something that Minato said or did that could help Naruto somehow. It was a long shot and Kakashi knew it, but at this point he was clinging to whatever bit of hope that he could get at that moment. The man probably would have rushed off to find Jiraiya and Tsunade right then and there if it wasn’t for the fact that Naruto’s plea rang out in his head at the very thought of leaving the room. 

_Please don’t leave me._

_‘I can’t leave right now,’_ Kakashi thought. _‘Naruto needs me here with him.’_

Luckily for Kakashi he didn’t actually have to leave the room to find Jiraiya and Tsunade. He shoved the flower into his weapon pouch and reluctantly let go of Naruto’s hand. A few hand signs later and a shadow clone popped into existence next to him. The second the clone was there Kakashi quickly went to work summoning Pakkun. It only took a few seconds for him to summon the pug. Upon being summoned Pakkun opened his mouth to say something only to snap it shut when he noticed where he was, and just who was lying in the hospital bed.

“Naruto?” Pakkun said in surprise. “What happened to him?” 

“His curse got worse,” Kakashi answered. “He started coughing up blood.” 

Pakkun stared sadly at Naruto upon hearing that while Kakashi just sighed.

Kakashi quickly took hold of Naruto’s hand again as he said “I need you to take my clone to Tsunade and Jiraiya. I know why Naruto has this curse now, and they need to know what I know. I would go myself, but I can’t leave Naruto’s side.”

“You know why Naruto is cursed? How did yo-“ Pakkun started to say only to be cut off by Kakashi. 

“Pakkun, we don’t have time. You will learn how I know when my clone explains it all to Jiraiya and Tsunade.”

Pakkun sighed, but nodded. “Alright, come on you we need to go.” Pakkun said to the clone. The clone nodded as it followed the small dog out of the room. Kakashi watched them go, and once they were out of sight he turned his attention back onto Naruto. He gently squeezed Naruto’s hand and silently hoped that Pakkun and his clone would be able to find Tsunade and Jiraiya quickly…

For once in Kakashi’s life someone out there was willing to answer his silent plea. Pakkun and Jiraiya had been able to locate Tsunade and Jiraiya rather quickly. Both of them were thankfully in the hospital. A few helpful nurses who saw the clone slowly trailing after the pug had been quick to ask them what they were doing. Upon hearing that they were looking for Tsunade and Jiraiya they had directed them to the small office that Tsunade had made into a medical office that she, Sakura, and Shizune could use when they were working on the hospital. Tsunade had apparently arrived with Jiraiya in tow about twenty minutes ago and had locked themselves in there with the results of Naruto’s most recent tests. Upon reaching the room the clone knocked on the door of the office.

The clone called out “Jiraiya-sama? Tsunade-sama? It’s Kakashi. I need to talk to you two.”

A few seconds passed in silence, but eventually the clone and Pakkun heard Jiraiya’s slightly muffled voice call out “Come in!”

The clone stepped into the room with Pakkun following close behind him. Once they were in the room the clone closed the door and looked at Jiraiya and Tsunade. Tsunade was sitting at the desk with her head in her hands. She didn’t look up at the clone or the dog when they entered the room. She acted like they were not even there at all. Jiraiya was leaning up against the wall with his arms crossed and a heavy frown on his face. He seemed to be doing better than Tsunade was doing although he didn’t seem to be doing that much better. His shoulders were slumped and the look on his face was one of defeat. He looked like he had just watched someone he loved die in front of him. A shiver traveled down the clone’s spine upon seeing how defeated the Sannin looked, but he didn’t let that stop him from doing the job that the original Kakashi had given him. 

“I know where Naruto’s curse came from,” The clone said. 

He didn’t get much of a reaction to that. Tsunade didn’t even twitch. Jiraiya only raised a single brow in interest upon hearing that.

“Explain,” Was the only thing that Jiraiya said. 

The clone took in a deep breath before he started explaining. Tsunade and Jiraiya were silent as the clone spoke of the memory that Kakashi was forced to remember in his dreams. The Sannin said nothing during the whole explanation. It was only when the clone had finished his story did they bother to actually respond. A sad choked laugh escaped from Tsunade although she didn’t look up.

“Because sticking him with the fox at birth wasn’t enough he had to leave him with a curse too?”

“Tsunade,” Jiraiya started to say only to have Tsunade cut him off.

“Don’t Jiraiya,” The woman said. “Just don’t.”

The man sighed and said nothing more to her. 

Instead he looked at the clone and said “Normally, if I heard something like this I would error on the side of caution and say that there is a chance that your dream was just a nightmare that your mind came up with and not anything based on reality.” 

The man moved away from his spot against the wall and approached Tsunade. He picked up a book off of Tsunade’s desk that the clone hadn’t even noticed was there. The man held the book out toward the clone.

“We got a response from the Land of Vegetables daimyo. She sent this book to us. What I read in that book makes me pretty positive that the dream you had truly was a memory that got dragged back into the light due to the flower that Naruto coughed up.” 

The clone slowly took the book from the toad sage and stared down at it. The book was old. Very old. The clone couldn’t pin an exact age onto the thing, but he was willing to assume that it was at least as old as Jiraiya or Tsunade. On the cover was a simple short title that made it clear that it was more of a historical text and not just a book of fables. 

Curse Jutsu and folktales: How curse jutsu of yesteryear inspired the folktales of today  
By Ryozo Munakata

“Did my research and from what I found out this Munakata guy is the real deal,” Jiraiya said. “He was a rather famous folklorist back in his day. He was an expert folktale historian, and his research is still highly regarded even though it has been about seventy years since he died. Unfortunately, while he is highly respected a lot of his works has been lost over the years, or have been out of print for decades.” 

The clone said nothing to this. He just continued to stare at the book. From the pages of the book he could see an orange toad bookmark sticking out. 

“That’s where you want to start reading,” Jiraiya said when he noticed the clone eyeing the bookmark. 

The clone did as it was told and opened up the book where the bookmark indicated and started skimming the pages. At first what the clone was reading wasn’t too useful although it was interesting. This section of the book was completely dedicated to folktales that revolved around the idea of people coughing up flowers from unrequited love. A lot of the legends came from the Land of Vegetables with many slight variations of the myth having connections to one village or another. However, what surprised him was the fact that the Land of Vegetables was not the only land to have such legends. The book listed a version of the story where a man coughed up different kinds of rose petals coming from a small village in the Land of Honey while another legend from the Land of Birds spoke of a young woman who died of heartbreak while coughing up anemone flowers. There were a few short stories from everywhere ranging from the Land of Tea to the Land of Hot Water. However, out of all of the lands out there in the world the lands that had the most versions of the story seemed to be the Land of Vegetables, and a small place known as the Land of Flowers. After listing every possible story that existed the book finally started talking about the possible origin of said stories. 

_From the research gathered it seems that the earliest version of the flower stories started appearing during the Warring States Period era sometime during the first century of fighting. While the exact year of the stories appearance in the world is hard to pin down its point of origin is not. The first flower stories started up in the Land of Flowers, and all stories that originated from the Land of Flowers predates all other stories even the ones from the Land of Vegetables. Records showed that the stories first started to appear in the southern parts of the Land of Flowers._

The book went on about how the author was able to find the records that helped to pinpoint the exact location of where the myth originated from, and why he was sure the records were authentic and all of that. The explanation made for a bit of dry reading if the clone was being honest, but just when his eyes were about to glaze over in boredom the book started to get interesting again and the clone saw a name he wasn't expecting. 

 

_Due to all of my research I have come to learn that the origin of the myth comes from a small village in the Land of Flowers that goes by the name of Ayame Village. For this village the flower story is not a myth, but a true tragedy that involves on of their highly respected clans. In Ayame Village there existed a clan by the name of Namikaze._

The clone felt a chill run down its spin upon seeing that oh so familiar name. 

_The Namikaze clan were a small clan with some ties to the nobility of the Land of Flowers. People from this clan were known to be kind and just leaders. The people of Ayame Village looked toward this clan for guidance, and it was rather common for members of this clan to end up in positions of significant importance in the Land of Flower’s Daimyo’s court. Even members who did not go into a governing jobs tended to take up the arts of sealing, or they would take up the life of a ninja and become rather efficient bodyguards and protectors to daimyos, villages, and nobles of all sorts. Due to all of these reasons the Namikaze clan was considered highly respectful. Marrying into this clan was considered an honor, and a great way to improve one’s station in life._

_A young man from a minor rich noble family from the Land of Flowers wished to marry into the family to gain more influence and power. In order to achieve this, he tried to pursue marriage with a woman from the Namikaze family. While it is known that the man was from the Sekiguchi clan his full name was stricken from all records due to the shame that he brought to his clan by preforming a grave sin that caused much hardship for the honored Namikaze family. While the man’s name has been lost to the sands of time the woman’s name is still known. Her name was Ayaka Namikaze, and she immediately rejected the man due to already being in love with another. The Namikaze family did not believe in arraigned marriages, and refused to force the girl to marry the man. No amount of riches or promises of power would make them change their minds._

_In his anger at being rejected the man hired a curse jutsu specialist to curse the whole family in revenge. Some theorize that he may have ordered the curse in order to possibly coerce the girl into marriage with promises of ending the curse on her clan if she agreed. Some say he did it simply so that the whole clan would know how painful it was to be rejected. Others say he was just a hateful man who didn’t like being said no to. Whatever the case may be the curse had its desired effect. Many young people in the clan who fell in love started coughing up flowers. At first no one could find the reason nor the cure. It was only when a few confessed to their loves and had said love returned did the effects of the curse vanish. Unfortunately, those who were rejected were soon overcome by the flowers and died due to the curse._

_Even once the effects of the curse were understood it was found that lying about one’s feelings did not stop the curse. Feelings of love could not be forced, and going into a relationship with the cursed person when you felt no real love for them did nothing to end the curse. It was only when the love was actually returned did the curse break. Worse yet it was found that any children born into the Namikaze family were born cursed. Even if the child’s parent was able to break their own curse their child would still be born cursed. Many members of the family started dying due to the curse and the Namikaze family collapsed over a few short years due to so many young people dying to the curse. The Sekiguchi clan member that ordered for the curse to be carried out was found out and punished while the curse jutsu master who created the curse was also hunted down and punished. However, while the curse maker was found it was discovered that he had no real way to end the curse._

_A few surgeries were preformed to try and end the curse through medical means although while most records regarding the surgeries have indicated that none of the surgeries were successful. The curse was here to stay. Many Namikaze clan members swore to never have children just because they did not wish to pass the curse on to their children. Others left the Land of Flowers in hopes of finding a way to break the curse somewhere out in the world. Others left purely because they wished to have a new start elsewhere in order to avoid anyone taking advantage of their curse to hurt them. Eventually what remained of the Namikaze family was scattered to the wind. Most likely the places where the flower legend pops up are actually places where a Namikaze clan member migrated. The stories were nothing more than the telling of how individual Namikaze clan members either beat or succumbed to their curse._

_Due to the curse’s connection to love it is no wonder that these true tales soon stated to be twisted into the fairytales of today. As for Namikaze clan it has mostly gone extinct. A few scattered members of the clan can still be found in the Land of Vegetables, but other than having the clan name most members do not know the history of their clan. Fewer still are willing to speak of the curse which is understandable. Some don’t know the nature of their curse while others do not wish to broadcast such a weakness to the world. At any rate while the noble who caused the curse was punished in the end he got what he wanted which was the downfall of the clan that rejected him. Still, if a bright spot from any of this is to be found it is the fact that this event may have been what caused the outlawing of curse jutsu in the Land of Flowers. The outlawing of curse jutsu was a law that ended up spreading to other lands that shared a boarder with the Land of Flowers. In fact, this event may have been the spark that helped lead to the destruction of curse jutsu as a whole._

 

The clone didn’t read anymore after that. It just silently held the book out for Jiraiya to take back. Jiraiya took the book back without a word and stared at the clone silently. Obviously he was waiting for the clone’s reaction. The clone didn’t know what to say at first. It had trouble processing everything it had just read. It didn’t even want to think about how Kakashi would react when the clone dispelled and allowed Kakashi to get all of its memories. 

Eventually the clone was able to say “Minato-sensei didn’t say anything about this curse to you?”

Jiraiya shook his head and said “Honestly? I don’t even think he knew anything about the curse for most of his life. Minato was an orphan whose parents died when he was just a baby. They were not exactly around to tell him about it.”

 _‘Just like how Minato isn’t around to tell Naruto about it,’_ The clone thought a bit bitterly, but he was quick to shove that thought out of his head before it could linger for too long.

“Do you remember Minato acting anything like how Naruto does with his curse?” Jiraiya asked.

“I remember it seemed like he was coming down a bit with a cold for a week or so leading up to the day my team found him coughing up a storm over his sink,” The clone said softly.

He really could remember it now. It seemed like that dream Kakashi had opened up the floodgates of the long forgotten past. However, while he could remember Minato coughing more often he could not remember seeing the man cough up any flowers or petals. 

“I don’t remember seeing him cough up any flowers or petals although that doesn’t mean that he didn’t. If he did cough up flowers or petals he could have hid it before I saw it.”

“And after you saw him at home having a coughing fit?”

“Rin had forced Minato into bed and pretty much made sure he stayed there and got some sleep. He slept most of the day away only waking up to eat some soup I made for him. He honestly was acting like he was just sick with a bad cold and not cursed.”

“Considering how much this curse has been draining Naruto chances are high that he wasn’t faking how sick he was,” Tsunade muttered. 

She still wasn’t looking up at them. Jiraiya frowned, but made no effort to comment on what she said.

Instead, he asked “Do you remember anything else after that?” 

“When it got real late at night Kushina came storming in. She and Minato-sensei were going to get ramen together that night, and when he didn’t show up she was split between being worried and angry that he might have forgotten about their plans that night. Her anger vanished when she saw that Minato wasn’t in any condition to go anywhere. She made diner for us, and once that was over she sent us home promising to take care of Minato-sensei until he was better.” The clone paused for a second only to sigh. “A week later Minato-sensei was healthy again, and he was walking on cloud nine due to how happy he was. Apparently he and Kushina had become a couple during that week that she was caring for him.” 

The clone wished it could elaborate a bit more on that, but honestly it didn’t have any more info. Minato and Kushina had never elaborated on just how exactly they got together. They just said that they did, and never explained beyond that. From that day going forward Minato and Kushina’s relationship was pretty much all sunshine and rainbows up until it all came crashing down due to the fox attack. While the clone had no more answers as to how that relationship became a thing Jiraiya apparently did. After hearing the clone explain what it knew helped to un-bury a few of Jiraiya’s own memories of the past.

“Damn it I think I actually remember how that all went down now,” The white haired man grumbled as a ran a hand through his hair. 

“Want to share with the class?” The clone asked as it leaned up against the wall.

Jiraiya let out another sigh as he said “Minato always had a little crush on Kushina since the day he met her, but it had always just been a little childhood crush. For the most part it always took a backseat to everything else that was going on in his life like the war, missions, or training you and the rest of his genin team. While he always cared about her I honestly don’t think he would have realized just how deeply he cared or figured it out quickly as he did if it wasn’t for this stupid misunderstanding that happened.” 

“Misunderstanding?” The clone repeated in confusion. 

“You might actually remember this. You remember a guy named Daiki that was on Kushina’s team?”

The clone thought for a moment. He did remember a man like that. He was a med-nin that also specialized in many different kinds of water jutsu. He had long brown hair that was always tied back into a pony tail, honey brown eyes, and he always had a gentle smile on his face. Kakashi didn’t interact with him much, but his few encounters with the man led Kakashi to think that he was a gentle person who was also a bit timid. He only ever saw the man with Kushina. Sadly, the man had died during the fox's attack on the village. From what he heard he was killed while trying to help get the wounded to the hospital. 

“The medic nin with brown hair? The one who was really good with water jutsu?” The clone asked. 

“Yep,” Jiraiya said with a nod. “That’s him.”

“What about him?” The clone asked slowly.

“Do you remember Kushina spending a lot of time with him suddenly? Like all of her time? For at least two weeks straight?” Jiraiya questioned. 

Now that the clone thought about it he could recall some memories about Kushina not hanging around them as much as she usually did for a few weeks. She was on a long line of missions with little breaks in between each mission due to the village needing her and her team’s skills badly during that point in the war. When she was home she hung around her team most of the time. The rare times she swung around to visit them she had only stuck around long enough to check in before she had to leave to help Daiki with something although she was never clear on what she was helping him with. Kakashi remembered seeing her out in the town with Daiki, and sometimes their other teammate was with them as well although Kakashi couldn’t remember his name. Still, most of the time Kushina seemed busy running around with Daiki. Minato had seemed fine with not having Kushina around as much as usual, but after about a week of Kushina not really being around anymore Minato started to get his ‘cold’.

“Were Kushina and that Daiki guy together?” The clone asked slowly.

“No, but Minato seriously started to think they were,” Jiraiya said. “I was so busy during the war I usually only got a day or two off at most before I got shipped off to handle another mission or job. I had one day off, and you know how I spent it? I spent most of it listening to Minato blubber on about how he was in love with Kushina, but he was sure she had something going on with Daiki and he didn’t want to get in the way of her happiness.” 

The man rolled his eyes a bit upon recalling the dramatics of it all. Minato didn’t want to get in the way of Kushina’s happiness and possible love life so he never asked. Kushina was busy with other things at the moment and hadn’t been around long enough to really notice that anything was wrong, and since Minato never asked about it she never explained.

 _‘Idiots the both of them,’_ Jiraiya thought with a bit of bitter amusement. 

It had been funny at the time to see the normally calm Minato work himself into a tizzy, but the thought that Minato was suffering through the same curse as Naruto took all the silliness out of the situation. Minato had been suffering silently and alone through it all and no one had known.

“So what was going on?” Tsunade asked. 

“Daiki was in love with a girl from a clan that his own clan had an icy relationship with. The old clan heads had a falling out with each other over business contracts or something like that, and they were still angry about it thirty years later. They didn’t approve of the relationship so they told Daiki to break it off. He refused so they disowned him and kicked him out. The girl’s clan did the same so the unlucky couple ended up on the streets with nothing but the clothes on their back.” Jiraiya sighed. “Kushina of course wasn’t going to just sit there and not help her friends. The whole reason she was running around town with Daiki was due to the fact she was helping him and his girl find a home they could afford and move into on such short notice, and helping them get their stuff back from their stubborn families who were trying their best to make life hell for the poor kids. When she wasn’t busy with that she was going off on a mission, and when she was home Minato was usually the one who had to go out on a mission. I’m sure their schedules not lining up well meant neither one of them really had the chance to sit down and talk about it. That ramen date that Minato and Kushina had planned that day would have given them a chance to sit down and really talk after going so long without talking. Chances are high that if he had made it to the ramen dinner Kushina would have vented about the whole situation, and Minato could calm down.”

“So what? Him freaking out and thinking that he was losing Kushina to someone else was what caused his curse to go into overdrive?” Tsunade asked. 

“I think it was the trigger at any rate,” Jiraiya said as he shrugged slightly. 

“Shouldn’t his crush have activated it?” Tsunade asked. 

“I think up until that moment Minato always had his little crush on Kushina, but it had never really developed much more past that. I think the idea of losing Kushina to someone else really helped hammer it in for him that he actually truly loved her. He stopped thinking of her as a crush from childhood and started seeing her as someone he loved and didn’t want to lose.” 

The man let out a soft tired sigh after he said that.

“Sometimes it takes almost losing the thing you love to make you realize just how important someone is to you.” Jiraiya said as he stared as Tsunade. “And sometimes once you finally do figure out how important someone is its already far too late.” 

There were so many things that could be taken away from what Jiraiya had said. The man’s own feelings for Tsunade was an open secret that everyone knew about with Tsunade being the only one to not know about it. Tsunade still carried a torch for Dan even to this day so Jiraiya never said anything about his love for her. Kakashi was sure that the man had feelings for Tsunade even before she met Dan, but for whatever reason he never confessed and once Dan came into the picture it was too late to say anything. The clone allowed its thoughts about Jiraiya’s tragic love life to fall to the wayside when he heard Tsunade slam her hands down on her desk. The fact that the desk didn’t crack from the impact was rather impressive considering just how angry Tsunade looked. Most things didn’t survive a strike from an angry Tsunade.

“Who cares about any of that?” Tsunade snapped. “What I want to know is why the hell Minato didn’t tell anyone about his curse! He didn’t think it was worth mentioning to anyone?!”

“Actually there is a chance that he had left something behind mentioning it,” Jiraiya said slowly. 

Both the shadow clone and Tsunade stared at Jiraiya while the man let out a soft sigh. 

“Back when Minato made me Naruto’s godfather he told me that he had a journal locked up in his desk at his home. He said it had pretty much any info he thought Naruto might need just in case something happened to him. There were simple things in there like family medical history, and not so simple things like how to go about learning the Flying Thunder God Technique. He stuffed that book with anything and everything he thought Naruto would need just in case something happened to him and Kushina,” The man said. “He even showed it to me once. Had a few seals on the book to make sure only certain people could even open the book.” 

Jiraiya gave both Tsunade and the clone a serious look as he said “While his curse was short lived Minato would have probably done as much as he could to figure out just what exactly his flower problem was. He had a lot on his plate what with taking part in the war and eventually becoming Hokage, but there is no doubt in my mind that he probably spent at least some of his free time on trying to figure out what the flowers were all about. Whatever he learned about the curse may have ended up in that book.” 

The man let out a soft sigh.

“Unfortunately, Minato made a mistake. He made damn sure that only people he trusted could open the book, but while he made the book impossible to break into there was one thing he couldn’t do. He couldn’t make it immune to being destroyed.” 

The clone was finally able to understand what point the toad sage was slowly working toward.

“The book got destroyed during the Tailed Beast’s attack didn’t it?” The clone asked although it already knew the answer to that question. 

“I searched every inch of the wreckage for anything salvageable. Even had the toads help me out with searching. A majority of the house and the things in it had been obliterated by the fox’s attack. The only thing we could dig out from the wreckage were a few photos, a couple of Minato’s special kunai, and a few of Kushina’s weapons. The book wasn’t one of the things that survived the attack. The only thing that I could find left of that thing was the burnt remains of the book’s cover.” 

Tsunade let out a small huff of anger as she said “And he couldn’t have said anything at all about this to you?”

“I wasn’t exactly around much if at all for him to tell me about it due to my own duties in the war. Probably wouldn’t have been safe for him to do so anyway,” Jiraiya said grimly. “For a majority of the war I was out of the village either fighting on the battlefield, or running my spy network and gathering information. I was in enemy territory for a vast majority of the war. If I got caught by the enemy, they would do everything they could get every single bit of information I had out of my head.”

Jiraiya stared at Tsunade with a frown on his face as he said “You know back then Minato was our village’s largest asset, so our foes would use whatever they could to kill him or cripple him physically or emotionally. Even to this day a lot of people hate him, and would love nothing more than to get revenge against him even though he is long dead. If one of Minato’s foes got a hold of any information on his curse they would do everything in their power to make sure that it succeeded in its goal of killing the cursed person. Or make sure that it killed his children just to spite him.”

The man allowed his gaze to drift away from Tsunade as he said “Our village is infamous for all the mind reading jutsu that the Yamanaka clan have under their belt, but our village isn’t the only one with such jutsu under its disposal. Even I'm not immune to jutsu that affect the mind, and while I wouldn't go down without a fight there is no guarantee in battle. While chances are slim the possibility of me being beaten and captured is always there. If someone caught me and they got that info on the curse out of my head it would have been disastrous for Minato. It was too risky for me to know that when I was out in enemy territory during a war.”

“And when the war ended?” Tsunade asked.

Jiraiya didn’t bother to look at her as he said “I was barely ever in the village due to running the spy network. I was only in the village for a few days when Minato and Kushina told me about the pregnancy, and Minato told me about the book while I was there. The rest of my time there was spent doing my actual job of delivering sensitive information that Minato needed to know, and shipping of a few of my manuscripts. If Minato had any plans to tell me about the curse itself one day, he never got the chance. The next time I was in the village was when the fox was knocking down the gates to our home.” 

Tsunade sighed as she ran her hand over her face. She clearly wasn’t happy with those answers, but she couldn’t exactly argue against them either. Jiraiya really wasn’t in the village enough for Minato to really sit him down and explain everything that he knew about the curse, and due to the war letting too many people know about his curse really wasn’t a good idea. At least with the book Minato could seal it up in such a way that the only people who could even look at it were the people that Minato trusted. 

“Would Minato-sensei have even been able to find out a lot about the curse on his own?” The clone asked.

Jiraiya sighed and shook his head. 

“I doubt it. For as extensive as our village’s library is we don’t carry a lot of books on curse jutsu. The few books that we do have are just historical texts that cover what curse jutsu is and how it eventually got eradicated. The few books I was able to get on my own covered some curse jutus, but none of them were anything like this flower curse.” The man held up the ancient book that he was holding. “We were lucky to get this at all. As I said before most of this historian’s works were lost, and I think the only reason the Land of Vegetables had it at all is due to the fact that it covers a lot of the Land of Vegetables old legends so it is a valuable piece of history for their land. The book itself is probably worth a small fortune too due to being out of print for so long and being written by such an infamous historian. The only reason it got sent our way is due to the fact that the Daimyo of that land likes Naruto so much, and owes him a lot. It helps that we promised to send it back to them as soon as we are done with the book.”

“Would sensei had even known to look toward the Land of Vegetables for answers?” The clone asked.

“Who knows?” Jiraiya answered with a shrug of his shoulders. “The only reason we thought to ask at all was because of the stories from the Yamanaka Clan, and the clan’s connection with the Land of Vegetables.” 

“And the only reason we even knew that is because Ino got hooked on the whole flower symbolism thing and decided to ask her father about it,” Tsunade added. “If not for her we never would have thought to look toward the Land of Vegetables for answers.”

“Sure as hell wouldn’t think to look toward the Land of Flowers either. They may have been a big deal way back in the day, but by the time you became a genin they lost a lot of power and were a small nation that just sold flowers. Curse jutsu was never really big there anyway.” Jiraiya said. “And even if Minato thought to look toward the Land of Vegetables they wouldn’t have handed over any of their rare works like this to him. Heck, they wouldn't even give it to me if I asked for that matter. If Minato or I had asked we would have gotten rejected, or be asked to pay a high price for the privilege of looking through the records.” 

Tsunade let out a small sound of irritation as she asked “Does it matter how much or how hard he may have researched his flower problem? Any notes he may have had were most likely destroyed during the fox attack. We probably know more than he ever did.” 

Jiraiya sighed upon hearing that. “In the end I guess it doesn’t really matter. There is no grantee that the book had any info on the curse anyway. All we can really do is guess as to what the hell Minato was thinking when it came to the curse. He isn’t around for us to really question anymore, so there is no real way for us to ever know what was going through Minato's head. Maybe he thought the curse was something more. Maybe he thought it was just a jutsu that had been used on him during the war only to wear off with time. Hell, with how many experiments he did with sealing maybe he thought the whole thing was due to an experiment of his going wrong. Honestly, we will never know.”

The clone frowned at that. It wasn’t an answer he wanted to hear. There were just too many questions and way too many guesses left at the end of the day. Yet, there was no way to clear up the confusion or answer any of the questions. Minato was dead. He couldn’t answer any questions that they had. It was frustrating, but there wasn’t anything they could do about it. All they could do was make a bunch of theories and be content enough with that. Still, the desire to be able to grab his sensei and ask him why the hell he kept quiet about the flower thing for so freaking long was very strong. The clone felt a bit bad for the original Kakashi at that moment. When the clone dispelled itself Kakashi was going to be going through a roller coaster of emotions once the memories hit him. 

“So what are we going to do now?” The clone asked.

Tsunade wordlessly picked something up from her desk and handed it over to the shadow clone. It was more scans of Naruto’s lungs, but it was very different from the scans that Naruto had during his last checkup. There was no little dot in the imagine anymore. Instead there were lines all over the place in the scan. 

“These almost look like…” The clone started to say only to have Tsunade cut the clone off. 

“Like vines?” She asked. 

The clone just nodded as he handed the scans back to the medic-nin.

Tsunade sighed as she said “It sounds ridiculous, but the second Naruto started coughing up flowers anything became possible.” 

“What can we do about it?” The shadow clone asked. 

“Perform surgery,” Tsunade said.

“But the book said…” Jiraiya started to say only to have Tsunade cut him off immediately.

“That book is older then us! Many of the medical advances that we have today didn’t exist then! And they sure as heck didn’t have a medic like me around!” She glared at Jiraiya as if daring the man to challenge her as she said “I’m not going to just sit here and do nothing. The book didn’t say why those past surgeries went wrong, so as far as we know I have a chance to either stop this in its tracks or at least buy Naruto more time.” 

“I’m not saying you shouldn’t try,” Jiraiya said softly. “What I want to say is what will happen if the surgery doesn’t work?”

Tsunade gave him a sad heartbroken look as she said “If the surgery fails then there are only two things that can happen. Naruto confesses and the village gains a new happy couple, or Naruto dies and I lose yet another person that I care about.” 

The clone felt cold at those words. Naruto couldn’t die. He still had so much that he wanted to achieve. He still had to become Hokage. Naruto just couldn’t fade away like this. Just the thought of Naruto drowning in flowers made a feeling of panic well up in the shadow clone. Naruto couldn't die like this, but there was so little that they could do to prevent it. For as silly as the curse was it did a great job at making people feel helpless. Much as he wanted to say something the clone swallowed down his fears, and didn’t voice any of his thoughts out loud. 

Instead, the shadow clone just asked “Are we done here?” 

“Yes, once Naruto wakes up I’ll have everything set up for his surgery.” Tsunade turned back to her desk. “Would you mind letting Sakura, Yamato, and Sai know about the surgery? They should know what will happen to their teammate.”

“Pakkun,” The clone called out. 

“I can deliver the message,” The pug said as it walked toward the door. 

The clone gave the dog a grateful look as it let the pug out of the room. 

Once the pug was gone the clone glanced over at Tsunade only to have the woman say “You are dismissed Kakashi.” 

The clone nodded and quickly dispelled itself. Just before it disappeared the clone could not help but feel bad for the original, and for Naruto. Sometimes it felt like life really liked nothing more than making those two miserable… 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**So this is how we are going to die, huh?**

The loud grumbling of the fox is what makes Naruto open his eyes. He isn’t surprised to find that he is in that strange mental place where the fox was locked away. He was laying on his back in the water staring up at the ceiling. His whole body ached although his throat hurt the worst. He could feel something soft brush against his cheek. Naruto slowly turned his head so that he was looking toward the fox only to quickly noticed that things had really changed here. Floating the surface of the water were flowers. He recognized the flowers pretty easily. All of the flowers that were floating on the water were the flowers he coughed up. Red carnations, gardenia flowers, pansy flowers, pink azalea flowers, and many other flowers were floating on the water around him. The bars of the fox’s cage were covered in thick vines that were also covered in flowers. The vines around the bars of the cage were so thick it was a bit hard to see the fox through it all. Still, Naruto could see the fox’s red eyes staring down at him.

“It’s not like I want this to happen,” Naruto rasped out. 

His memory of coughing up blood and flowers in front of his team wasn’t a fond memory. The pain he felt as the flowers forced their way out of his mouth along with the blood was pretty high on his list of unpleasant feelings. That honestly wasn't an expriance he ever wanted to have again. The fox seemed unimpressed with Naruto’s answer. 

**“You sure aren’t doing much to stop it,”** The fox said as he stared down at Naruto.

“Every time I attempt to tell my friends who I like I freeze up and start coughing up flowers and pass out. I doubt my attempts will improve any now that I’m coughing up blood too.” Naruto glared at the fox. “So I would love to hear your suggestions on what I can do.”

 **“You could stop being a coward and confess your feelings to that silver haired scarecrow that you love so much,”** The fox said as if what he suggested was such a simple thing to do.

“What if he doesn’t return my feelings?” Naruto asked. “What if I die and leave him feeling guilty for my death?”

The fox let out a loud frustrated sigh as he asked **“Are you that convinced that he could never like you?”**

“Why would he like me? I’m hyper, I’m loud, I’m not book smart, I’m not a genius…” The boy started to list off only to have the fox interrupt him.

**“And the scarecrow already made it clear that he likes your energetic loud personality for reasons I still don’t understand. He likes spending time with you.”**

“That doesn’t mean he loves me. It just means he likes me.” 

Naruto heard the fox mutter something under his breath that sounded a lot like ‘idiot boy’, but he decided not to comment on it. 

**“Fine! If you are too much of a coward to say anything yourself then have your friends be useful for once and have them ask!”**

“But I can’t sa-“ Naruto started to say only to fall silent when he heard the fox slam its hands down onto the ground.

The water around him sloshes around due to the fox’s movement. Flowers carried by the waves drift around him as the fox yells out **“Then write it down for them, and if you can’t do that use a freaking ninja code commonly used in the Leaf Village! Drop a hint! Drop a bunch of hints! Mention how much you love silver hair, and how you think having two different colored eyes is really cool until they get the freaking message! You might want to just give up and assume the worst, but I refuse to die like this without a fight!”**

Naruto glared at the fox with as much strength as he could as he said as loudly as he could “I don’t give up!”

The fox only let out a disbelieving snort upon hearing that. 

**“Could have fooled me,”** The fox grumbled. 

Naruto wanted to argue against him, but the fox wasn’t necessarily wrong. His fear or ejection or hurting Kakashi has kept him silent. He had tentative plans to try and slowly figure out how Kakashi feels, so he wasn’t doing nothing here. Still, the blood he coughed up made it very clear that he didn’t have the time to be slow. Like it or not the fox was right. He couldn’t continue on like this. He didn’t have the time to mess around anymore. Naruto groaned as a lightheaded feeling fell upon him. Everything around him started to grow dimmer.

 **“Looks like you are waking up,”** The fox grumbled. **“Good thing too. I’m getting tired of dealing with you.”**

As everything faded away the fox said one more thing before Naruto finally left this place to wake up. It was said so softly that Naruto was sure that he wasn’t meant to hear it, but Naruto heard it anyway. 

**“You better figure something out brat. No one should die like this…”**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> White Petunia- Petunias in general are used to symbolize both good and bad things. On the bad side of things, they can be used to mean anger, and feelings of resentment toward someone or something. 
> 
> On the good side of things, they can be used to say ‘being with you is soothing’, or they can be used as a symbol to say ‘don’t give up hope’. 
> 
> White Petunias can typically mean innocence, trust, truth, and dignity. 
> 
> Ryozo Munakata: If the name seems familiar at to you that just means you have played the Fatal Frame series sometime in your life. Ryzo Munakata is the name of a folklorist whose research you get to read in the first Fatal Frame game, and he was also in the second Fatal Frame game as well. No real reason why I used him. It was just a fun little reference. 
> 
> Ayame Village: Ayame can apparently means Iris.
> 
> Yeah, so the village name isn’t really that important. I suck at coming up with names for towns so when I have to name a make up a town I tend to name them after towns from various video games as a sort of Easter egg. I was playing Inuyasha: Cursed Mask and one of the towns you go to in the game is called Ayame Village. Apparently in Japanese Ayame can mean Iris. So I was like “Oh! Hey! Flower name! Good enough!”, and the rest is history after that. 
> 
> Ayaka: Apparently this name means ‘colorful flower’. Yes, I am trying to stick as close to the whole flower thing as I can here.


End file.
